#he was never the dumb twin just the disadvantaged twin

[swarmofabout1000bees]

We know Stan also had poor eye sight growing up but what if him not wearing glasses as a child is the whole reason he never made it very far academically

[astaroth1357]

Demigod MC Series: Hestia

This is another eternally virgin goddess, so we're doing another pseudo-demigod by adoption (like we did with Athena).

Demigod MC: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena, Hades Pt. 2, Poseidon, Ares, Hestia

Hestia is the goddess of the Hearth, Home, Architecture, Domesticity, Family, and the State. She's high up there (firstborn of Rhea and Cronus), but several factors have led to her falling into the background when compared to the other (flashier) Olympians. She swore to never marry, rejecting proposals from both Poseidon and Apollo, and is something of an antithesis to Aphrodite.

Lucifer

Honestly? He thought they were exactly what they were after. A weak human with no experience in the magical world what-so-ever.

Well… He was half-right.

On the surface, this is a pretty weak human. They don't have super flashy powers or a divine birth from the gods… but they do have a very protective adoptive mother.

The brothers had just settled in for their first dinner with the new human when the goddess herself strolled into their dining room, asked who was in charge, then dragged Lucifer away by the ear!

She's not even his mother, yet he felt the intense urge to apologize and put himself in his own room… Oh, the humiliation… at least she did the same to Diavolo…

The Prince was only able to calm her down by promising absolutely NO harm would come to her child… on their heads...

By the time the goddess finally let him go, Lucifer was about ready to shackle the MC to his wrist so nothing could touch them but he settled on keeping them with him like an assistant of sorts. They were in charge of helping him with the paperwork so he could keep an eye on them. 

What he didn’t expect was for them to be so… good at it? They could keep his offices clean, they managed his daily schedule, fixed up the House, and still have time to bring him tea and sweets every night!

They could even reign in his brothers somehow… They weren't strong or intimidating, but one or two mildly unhappy words out of them and everybody would be on their best behavior.

Was everyone positive they're only human...?

As much as he hated to admit, he may have a slight deep case of falling for the housekeeper… He would make a move, but well…

He has Beel to contend with first.

Mammon

Okay so, watching Lucifer get dragged out by the ear just like Raphael used to do to him was hilarious!!! The whole room got a good laugh! 🤣

Until Hestia glared at them and suddenly they all felt like they'd disappointed someone important….

And all that fuss over some dumb human??

So what if they made amazing food?

So what if they could clean the entire mansion in a day?

So what if they were the walking equivalent to a warm cup of cocoa on a winter's day??

So what if they were just the kindest, sweetest thing in this godforsaken hellscape and he would throw himself in front of a bus to keep them safe-

-Wait, when did that happen?!?

Seriously, Mammon's attachment to the MC came out of NOWHERE to him. One day, he was threatening to eat their soul and the next he's freaking out when they stub their toe!

He swears they have to have some kind of magic about them! A charm, or a spell, or… their lovable smile and warm, loving hugs...! 😊

Damnit!! They're too cute!! He needs them to go away but also never leave, thanks. 😒

In all seriousness, though their kind nature puts Mammon's tsundere self at a bit of a disadvantage, his protective instincts shoot through the roof whenever they're involved.

Naturally, that means his day is spent running them away from hungry lesser demons or shielding them from Beel and Lucifer's tug-of-war matches… He's a busy guy these days. 😖

Leviathan 

They're so… so… MOE!!!

That was his immediate thought when Mammon brought them home. He was expecting a defenseless human, but not one that could have stepped out of one of his slice-of-life manga!

To be honest, his instant thought was try and find a place to sit them on his shelves with the rest of the adorable characters he loves… 😅

And that was before they even opened their mouth! Five words into their introduction and he was ready to get their face on a t-shirt!!

Honestly, combine their natural cuteness with their household skills and they made for perfect waifu/husbando material… 

Not helped by the fact they found one of his maid/butler outfits while doing the laundry one day. Not only did they ask if they could wear it, they actually non-ironically liked it and started wearing it around the House!!

Oh he got cornered by Beel, Lucifer, and Mammon separately that day because they thought he was using them for fetish fuel… But it was their idea, he swears!!

I mean… He didn't discourage them or anything either but still…

If Beel hadn't claimed them on Day One, Levi might have eventually thrown his hat in the ring too... Oh well… he can pine from a distance… What else is new? 😔

Satan

He has a video of Hestia dragging Lucifer out of the dining room on his phone and it's one of his most treasured possessions now. 😌

He is perhaps the only person in the House who was not at all impressed with their little human.

So they could cook? So could he. So they can clean? That's not impressive. They could manage a household? Big deal, he's more or less been in charge of the same thing for centuries!

As far as he saw it, there was nothing the MC could do that he couldn't do as proficiently or even better. There was nothing remarkable about this human at all!

… except for one thing.

That maid/butler outfit of Levi's? The one they like to wear around?

It has cat accessories…

Either they don't notice or they don't mind it but they essentially walk around the House cleaning things with little kitty ears attached to their head and a bell on their collar…

Dammit… Why did Levi even buy that?!?

Satan ended up getting in trouble for enchanting their outfit to give them REAL ears and a tail "accidentally..." Lucifer strung him up by his toes, Beel gave him a black-eye, and Mammon still calls him a "perverted cat freak" but it was worth it, he says, worth it!!

Asmodeus 

Oh Beel…

Asmo saw Beel's feelings for the MC coming from a mile away. He didn't even need to confirm it with a sniff check, he had them scented by the end of their first night!

Lucifer, on the other hand, now that was a surprise... 😏

Ask him a century ago if Lucifer would ever consider a human lover, godly mother or no, and he'd have laughed! Yet here he is, giving gifts and sneaking whiffs of their adorable new housemate!

Of course, that's causing some commotion because they're pitted against each other, but Asmo finds it kind of cute honestly. 

Beel and Lucifer aren't fighting, not for real. The whole house knows Lucifer would win in a real brawl, but neither of them actually want to hurt the other… They're far too close for that.

So Beel tosses Lucifer around with kid gloves and Lucifer holds back considerably against Beel. It's pretty much just two brothers who love each other squabbling over the same toy… 🤭

Honestly, Lucifer might have bowed out by now and just let Beel have them but now his pride's on the line… thus an endless tussle between family and the sweet MC is in the middle, clueless to it all!

Tragic, is it not? But it certainly makes things more entertaining around here! (Good thing too since Beel beat him to the punch… If it's a fight against those two, he'll have to keep any of his own affairs with the MC under the radar... 😏)

Beelzebub 

He has claimed this one. Full stop.

For a bit of perspective: when Barbatos needs cooking tips, he calls Hestia. Hestia, the Divine Master of All Things Cooking. Hestia, the goddess who raised this MC… 

Needless to say if they have any magic at all, it's in the kitchen.

If food is the way to Beel's heart, this MC has claimed his heart, soul, and probably all of his vital organs. Their food is astounding!! Always perfect every time and so good it brings him to tears!

It started the night of that first dinner, prepared by MC. He was too busy scarfing down the table to even notice a goddess showed up and then he proposed to the MC with their own pig roast by meal's end!

They said no to marriage, but an instant pact agreement suited him just fine.

Beel didn't waste a single moment before he started treating them like a potential mate, territorial aggression and all, but there was a bit of a catch… He kept the MC totally oblivious to it.

Surprisingly, Beel's can turn the "They're MINE" part of his brain on and off pretty well. He's nothing but sweet and cuddly to the MC when they're around and even with his brothers!... as long as they don't try anything.

The moment he caught whiff that Lucifer might be pursuing them too, it was on. Suddenly the two brothers who almost never fight were in competition against each other! But of course, both have an unspoken rule to never do so in front of MC.

And now poor MC believes it's common for demons to "play wrestle" like puppies and hugs are traditionally supposed to be so hard they could snap spines… 

And it doesn’t look like they'll be backing down any time soon… Oh dear...

Belphegor 

You know what? For once, everything goes exactly to plan for Belphie!

No really, this MC has no hidden powers, no magic horses, not even Demon Nip. They are a helpless, trusting little human who just wants to help their big teddy bear get his twin back!

So, you know how it goes. The charm, the lies, the treachery and all of that. He even gets to kill them!! Oh, happy days!! 😁

Come to think of it, they did smell an awful lot like Beel… But who cares, as long as Lucifer suffers right?? And this whole "living together in harmony" crap fails, right?!

Wrong. 

Beel went ballistic. Lucifer did too, but Beel was what really hurt…

Belphie can safely say that in all of his life, Beel has never physically attacked him. Not once, or at least, not with intent to kill… 

But when the sixthborn's fist went crashing through the wall right by his ear that day, he knew his brother's first instinct was to aim for his head… and his second was to miss, as he still loved him, but only by just a little.

What the hell did he just do??

Thank their father for Barbatos and all the funky time stuff he can do because bringing the MC "back" snapped his angry brothers right out of it. 

Things should have been smoothed over at that point but as everyone was finally settling down for tea, Hestia made another appearance in the House… this time carrying a butcher's knife!

Time fix or no, Diavolo had promised her no harm would come to MC and at least one continuity of them DIED… so punishment was now on Lucifer and the Demon Prince himself!

Belphie, in a rare case of guilt and an expression of brotherly love, offered to take their place since it WAS kind of all his fault. His gesture softened the Goddess of Family juuust enough to lighten his sentence from execution to hard labor.

And thus, the MC had their own housekeeping assistant for a whole year, complete with bitter reluctance and a matching maid outfit! Cat-theme and all!!

He's sending nightmares to anybody who laughs… guaranteed. 😒

[monal1ght]

teacher yandere yoongi x reader | syrinx | chapter 1

summary: You're a broke college student on scholarship at one of the country's most prestigious music schools. Your life was not perfect, but whose was? Your life was mediocre and boring. Yes, you had to be dedicated to attending the top music school in the country. So, what do you do when a famous producer strolls into your classroom and expresses an interest in you?

words: 2,855

today was the beginning of your last year of college. finally, your young and dumb mindset will be left behind in the past in favour of your studies or that was the plan. your naturally gifted mind could only take you so far. b and c wouldn’t cut it if you wanted to be on top to achieve your goals. You wanted to compose and express yourself through the music you helped people produce. which you promptly forgot last year caring more about parties and finally having your own space.

this year however the only thing you're excited about is the new music teacher. Last year one retired and as much as you loved professor Choi you can’t say his age didn’t stop him from understanding the more unique music taste of you and your classmates. You for instance loved a wide range of music from k-pop to alternative songs and more recently a lot of western rap like Doja cat, snoop dog and Eminem. Or your friend, Ahmya who loved more punk and riot girl type of music. He preferred the classics like Erik satire’s Gymnopedie or genres like the blues which to be fair you could understand. However, this left a huge disadvantage for everyone. Sticking to one genre they didn’t enjoy because professor Choi liked it. One person it did bother however was Sena.

Speaking of the devil she as you see her talking with Ahmya. which was never a good idea. You check your books to make sure they’re securely in your bag and jog over to them not having the effort to run.

“All you ever do is whine about me!” You could hear as you came closer to the two although not hearing the full conversation

“If you ever did something right I wouldn’t have to whine about you!” Sena snapped back. Before Ahmya could get a word in you stepped in between them on so they’d stop arguing two because Ahmya looked like she was going to pounce on Sena. You turn to face your now bleached haired friend. “can’t you two just not argue for one conversation?”

“I would if Sena was a likeable person!” your friend while pretending to be hurt you took her sister's side instead of hers.

“Oh, would you care to explain why you’re completely unlikeable sister is even talking to you?” Which out of curiosity you gave Amhya a confused look

“All I did was ask you to bring my guitar pick!” Ahmya shouted out the frustration in her voice could almost be mistaken for anger if she didn’t hide it so well.

“You’re a musician how could u forget anything!!” Sena snobbishly pointed out

“no offence Sena but it’s just a guitar pick Ahmya could’ve probably played without it too her nails are long enough,” you calmly replied “thank you though,” you bowed a liane started walking off with Ahmya.

“You know most people would kill to have that ‘special twin bond’ but you two argue than my parents,” you jokingly said trying to break the ice as things were a little awkward as this was your first meeting for the second term of school.

“It’s not my fault she's so far up her ass she can see her organ, I can’t believe I have to have dinner with her and mum again,” Ahmya says complains. You just sighed

“Oh no a fancy restaurant with very expensive high-end food,” you say sarcasm dripping from your tongue. Ahmya hit you on the shoulder and glared at you in return you just rolled your eyes. You had to admit Sena was much more snobbish and entitled than anyone you met ever since childhood. She even took etiquette classes the summer before high school started. Ahmya was more of a wild childhood don’t think you've ever seen her sit still heck she’d send you voice notes of her burping sometimes. not that you minded you found it funny, to be honest. “I like your hair by the way you gonna keep it bleached or?” you said trying to lighten the mood

“I might get highlights or oh!” her voice completely changes from her annoyed monotone voice from before now more excited and higher-pitched “I’ve seen some people get chunky highlights too!”

“Oh yeah I’ve seen them on Pinterest,” you add on. honestly even you were saying she and Sena were complete opposites but you two didn’t look like you’d get along. You had your natural hair for your entire life not doing much to change it always keeping it out maybe straightening/relaxing your hair maybe styling it once a month. Compared to Ahmya you were like a nun. she changed her hair constantly once at least once a year or more regularly once every 2 months. she even recently got a tattoo of a dragon going up to her thigh in memory of her father. She begged you to get a tattoo of something too and you almost did but chickened out last minute.

“You know there were rumours around school that the new music teacher might be someone pretty famous,” Ahmya says while elongating words

“What did they sacrifice professor Choi and summoned Philip Glass?”

“First of all Philip Glass is sadly still alive and I doubt we’d get another classical music teacher especially with last year’s complaints,” she said but honestly she was trying to convince herself more than you.

“How many times did you complain again?” you ask in a slightly mocking tone

“shut up,” she mumbles “Anyways I wasn’t the only one to complain there was Kai, Yeonjun and probably more!”

“Jeez I was just joking I have to be honest I talked to the head department too,”

“See no one liked him,” she stated triumphantly and u processed to hit her arm.

“Don’t be so rude he was nice just... dated,” Which caused Ahmya to erupt in laughter from your attempt to be nice. You were brutally honest most of the time so when u weren’t it was funny because you always had to stop yourself from being rude. You just rolled your eyes and carried on walking to your class you couldn’t lie though you were curious about who they were hoping they weren’t a replica of your last teacher. You reached your class and sat in a seat near the window beside Ahmya. You spotted Sena giant ass harp dead centre of the class as always. almost as if she hadn’t taken it home. Ahmya must’ve noticed you looking at it because she commented “Always the attention whore,”

“Hey, that’s your sister your talking about,” you replied in a joking manner the two of you continued to talk and say hi to the familiar faces entering the class. You said hello to Kai, Yeonjun, Sarang and others as they entered. Finally, the lesson had begun but no sight of your new professor.

“Sorry for being late traffic coming here was shit,” he started his voice sounded familiar but u couldn’t put ur finger on it you turn to look at Ahmya who looks star struck. You try to get her attention but it’s no use you do u look back at the teacher and now understand her shock. it was min yoongi thee min yoongi. he’s a modern genius composed over 100 songs and omg wtf is he doing at your school.

He lets out a chuckle and sits at his table at the front. “From what it seems we’ve got a talented class. One of you can even play 4 instruments impressive miss,” he checks his papers and read it out “miss (l/n),” he nods to acknowledge your presence. You feel like you just die here and be completely content with your life.

“Well why don’t we start by introducing anything new we’ve learned from this summer?” he asked the class waiting for a person to volunteer and of course Sena was first to volunteer. She played the fountain a song she learned back in high school but hey you can’t blame it is beautiful. Which Min yoongi or professor Min agreed it went from the rest of the class from there. you heard things from TikTok sounds to some original works but it came to Ahmya who played a shredded version of it smells like teen spirit. you smiled to yourself as during the summer you argued which version was better the black widow version or the original. The debate was settled by her version was better. You loved her but god was she petty.

“that an artist needs to know how to make something their own rather than a copy,” the then turned to you. You sighed and took your flute out of its case and angled it right. You took a deep breath and tried to concentrate fighting the urge to laugh but you couldn’t help it and let it out. You saw your professor smile and you suddenly weren’t so nervous. You regained your composure and played caprice 24.

However, halfway through playing your nerves came back in. You should’ve played something better or something original better yet you should’ve brought your violin in today you started an original song the other day. Well, it was too late now since the song was over. You looked up at professor min nervous although there was no need to he had the most adorable gummy smile and started to clap “That was beautiful (y/n) can we all give (y/n) some applause?” on that note the class started to clap and ahmya was hyping you up

“Thee min yoongi loved your music omg (y/n) your so lucky!!” she whispers screamed.

“thank you professor min,” you say flustered

“Call me Yoongi I’m not that old,” he says with a smile on his face with which you return with a smile on your face.

The lesson drowns on just normal first-day stuff reviewing what we already know, etc. Not anything too distracting from the fact the min yoongi. Before you leave he says that if anyone wants to talk to him after class feels free to. You turn to Ahmya you knew she and Sena had to go to dinner. Before you could get a word out asking if she wanted to say anything to him or maybe she could pass a message Sena dragged her out of class leaving you alone with him.

That’s like Kai was standing right there talking to him and so was Sarang and a whole line, which you were at the back of because you hesitated, but hey this was your ‘y/n’ moment you joked to yourself. You stood in the line for what felt like an eternity as the anxiety-filled you up. Thoughts like what if it gets to me and he has to go? Or what if he’s annoyed because he doesn’t wanna talk to anyone he is an introverted person and more however your thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling your name “Miss (y/n)?” You snapped back into reality and realise there was no one else here besides you and him. “Sorry I was just...” you think for a moment you couldn’t tell him that you were freaking out over him “sorry I’ve just had a lot on my plate recently.” you mentally high five yourself and smile.

Although he looks at you a little worried he stood up no longer lending on his desk and took a step towards you. “Is that so?” he looks you up and down you were joking and it was before but you are having your y/n moment. “Yeah moving in after such a long time away I always feel like this during the begging of the year,” you wonder if he could tell that you were lying. ‘God let’s not fuck up in front of our idol’ you silently pray to yourself

“Well to be honest with you, you don’t look like you’ve eaten,”

“Yeah, I didn’t eat this morning I said I’ll get something after class though there’s a cafe that no one ever goes to around where I live,” you say not wanting to concern him with your honestly horrible eating habits. He raises an eyebrow and tilts his head “Is there? Well we should go then,” he said more like a demand than a question and started heading towards the door.

You honestly just stood there confused for a second before catching up with him till it’s too late. “I think I miss heard you did you say with me?”

“You said no one ever goes there right?” he asks you as he locks the door to the music room. you nod your head too anxious to respond. “Well, I’d rather not be bothered while I’m here so I need a discreet place to go besides the teachers' lounge.”

You once again just nod your head it made sense his face was plastered all over Korea it won’t be hard to recognise him. That also explains him showing up late and wearing a face mask and cap. Which he is now putting on.

-

Getting there was no trouble most people in college wore masks to cover their faces from people they’re avoiding people. Although you had to inform him that yes the cafe was near to your apartment but it was like a 10-minute walk from campus so you wouldn’t recommend coming here often as someone might spot him. Which he shrugged off and continued with casual conversation about school and what you wanted to do.

You're currently sitting at a table waiting for your names to be called out. “You know I wouldn’t recommend university for musicians I’d say it would be better to get an apprenticeship or something,”

“Really?” you question tilting your head slightly

“Yeah it’s better to make a name for yourself that way plus you could work with someone who has made it,” he says smiling softly at you “don’t tell anyone though the college has me promoting university like it’s gods gift.”

You let out a giggle and promise you wouldn’t. Then your name was called out you opted for just your name as he couldn’t exactly tell them his name. You excuse yourself get up to get both of your drinks and pay the old lady for her services. As you come back with your drinks you see him texting on his phone rather annoyed. You place the drink in front of him and sit down back in your seat. “Penny for your thought?” you ask snapping him back into reality. He looks up and groans

“I can’t believe you paid I’m a millionaire,” you looked at you and pouted a little before taking a sip of his drink.

“Don’t worry you can pay next time,” you say trying to reassure him it was nothing

“Already planning the second date?” he said in a teasing manner which made you go hot in embarrassment

“N-no I was just-“ you stumble on your words trying to find the right words to explain yourself. His smile widens and he lets out a chuckle as he watched you stumble upon your words. You lightly kicked him under the table and pouted as a joke but something seemed to snap and he was suddenly looked a lot more annoyed.

“Hey, I’m your teacher remember that,” suddenly the mood dropped and he was much more intimidating than before. The bubbly friendly atmosphere has died leaving a tense atmosphere behind.

“Sorry, sir,” you said looking down at your drink and cake he insisted you got.

There was silence for a second as he looked at you and then laughter erupted from him. “ah I’m sorry I was just joking,” he said in between his laughter. Even though he was laughing you most certainly were not but you forced a laugh out. He was your teacher and Professor Choi made shitty jokes all the time that you ‘laughed’ at. Second, you wanted him to like you, you were his biggest fan. He regained himself and patted your head in condolence. He was about to say something but his phone once went off he looked at messages before sighing “I hate to cut this short but my friends nagging at me to come to the studio I’ll see you next time?” he asked

“Yeah and I promise I’ll let you pay,” you said jokingly as he got up he smiled and walked towards the door. He thanked Mrs Lee for the food and left with his drink in hand.

“It’s lovely seeing young love grow in the cafe once again,” Mrs Lee said to you.

You laughed to yourself love you wish. Sadly he was just your teacher and nothing more you thought to yourself but you weren’t gonna crush the old ladies fantasies or yours.

“So when the next date?” she asks and then it hits you he called his technically implied this was a date. Your eyes go wide and as if it was second instinct you whipped out your phone to text Ahmya to call you whenever she could, saying it was an urgent matter.

[drabbles-of-writing]

Reverse Au! Dump

Don’t mind my idea dumping here. Brain decided to have fun while I was at work and I have too many wips as it is, so… Thought I’d ask before I dumped, experience. Used morningmark’s comics as a base, so if you want reference. Now this isn’t all that well compiled, but here it goes.

~

Magic in the Other World is varied as it is crazy. So many styles over the generations and not a lot of organization. There are some that try to categorize it all, but that works as well as you’d expect. Some were lost, some erased, some weren’t passed down/recorded because “the power is all mine! Ahahaha!” It took a lot of time and collaboration, but eventually a sort of system was installed to help out. Still a lot of work to do, but its a step forward. Nowadays the term Wild Magic is generally reserved for those that aren’t all that well documented and understood.

Some Magics are very powerful and desirable, but also tend to be very high risk/high reward, kinda pass/fail, pretty literally Do or Die most times. So not a lot of people can use those or are even willing to. Story says this one guy named Odin hung himself on a massive tree by his own spear for nine days, no food water or rest in constant pain before he could unlock the secret of Runes. But it’s also said he gouged out his own eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom so… 

There are lots of different ways to channel magic too: wands, staves, jewelry, certain gems, familiars, potions, enchanted armaments, chants, scripts, etc. Each tool has its own advantages and disadvantages and play into a Witches’ style. Every Witch has at least two methods of spellcasting. Only children have one. Haven’t thought of how Luz gets her Palisman though. Maybe its one of those magic Artifacts like Dr. Strange’s cloak, Elder Wand, Thor’s hammer, or a Green Lantern’s Ring. Something that can’t be recreated because the secret is lost, materials no longer exist, too hard/dangerous to make, accident that can’t be recreated, etc. Happens more often than people like.

Camilla is sometimes called the Blue Witch. She’s a healer by heart and trade, but push her and she will become a one Witch Battleship. Bismark who? Aaaaand she just deleted a whole battalion. And the fortress behind them. Hide me. There are the very rare occasions, like count on one hand rare, when someone near and dear to her heart is in trouble that she takes up her other job. She’s especially terrifying when she decides to torture, those who know how to heal the body know best how to break it. Many shades of Blue, some are very close to Black. She doesn’t necessarily hate Humans exactly, but doesn’t have the highest of regard from past experiences.

Luz has training and is a proficient Witch for her age. Camilla and her father were adamant about having a general knowledge/skillset alongside her specialized skill. Jack of all trades and a master of none, still better than a master of one. She has gone through the system for her magic with varying success. Oracle magic? Zero talent. Bard classes? She can play an instrument, but can’t sing at the same time. When she does sing she tires too hard and messes up. It’s only when she doesn’t try, like absently singing along with a song or playing by her heart, that she’s good at it. Beasts? Can use them, but would rather play with them. Bleeding heart and all that. She does have a good handle on healing magic partly due to Camilla drilling necessary skills into her and partly osmosis. Her father arranged for some CQC lessons from an old friend of his which the girl loved. You get the idea. It wasn’t until she discovered Glyphs that she found her niche and her skills took off. Glyphs are one of those ‘eccentric’ or 'archaic’ styles since they haven’t been used in so long after being lost and are barely understood. She still has a long way to go, but she is on her way.

Luz never really had much in the way of friends, partly cuz of high profile parents which leads to certain pressures and a target on her head, partly because of her magic style and personality, and partly because of the trouble been going on. Luz grew up her whole life with this tension of a group of anarchists trying to burn society that’s just trying to do the right thing. The anarchists started small, but have been a growing problem the past few decades with talk how to 'reshape the world’ in not a good way. Anyone with critical thinking skills can tell this is a bad idea, but they are too brainwashed to notice. They harass anyone who doesn’t follow their rhetoric and attack anyone who even questions them. Luz’s parents put a real kink in a lot of their plans for years, which makes Luz guilty by association. 

Luz got caught in one of those sudden larger scuffles and was accidentally chucked/blown through a portal created by an attempted tactical retreat that went off course. Hence why she can’t go home because she hasn’t learned how to do portals yet. Those are high level anyway so how did these guys pull it off so easily? Luz has a hard time blending in obviously. Learning how to use a phone was a fun endeavor. Internet was a trip. Luz is amazed how these people can do all this cool stuff without magic. Keep a low profile sure, she can pass off as a weird out of town kid. Keep the beanie on, underperform in gym and stuff because some things don’t change, like genetics. Someone sharp eyed will see discrepancies. The Beanie has a small Glamor spell built in that covers her witchy traits but she forgot the ears which is why it sits like it does. Luz can erase memories in case she has an accident, but it’s less of a 'remove my face from this picture with a scalpel’, and more of a 'lemme just hack off the past hour or three from your brain with an axe.’ If she tries to take any more then she starts burning into some more dangerous territory and those Wiped are groggy and disoriented for a while after already. Then the magic attacks start happening and her heroic instinct/anti-bystander complex kicks in and there goes that. It runs in the family so Camilla isn’t surprised in the slightest when she finds out.

“Oh titan, why did you curse me with another me?” “I’m right here Mami!”

Eda has a shack very akin to Grunkle Stan. Lots of junk that Lilith can’t believe that people are dumb enough to buy. She’s also involved in some not so legal dealings on the side. Well, Eda isn’t actually hurting anybody and the tax dollars she should be paying would only go towards some politicians’ next yacht or another pointless overseas 'investment’ instead of where it’s supposed to go so. Eda does give some good intel on occasion and a place to vent so Lillith overlooks her. Lil’s more of the secret police for witches and a petty crook isn’t part of her job anyway. Eda understands Luz’s predicament and is willing to help. The cover story is that Camilla work in hospitals and has to work crazy hours while her dad passed away so is living with Eda for a while. King is that kind of critter that grew up weird and acts like ten different animals all the time.

Gus is the nerdy kid who infodumps on everybody, even if they’re not listening. Loves anything fantasy/sci-fi related and plays Minecraft too. A good kid at heart, but needs some social skills. Keep him away from anything more sugary than tea. Luz learned a lot listening to him. Not all of it is entirely useful, but still. Some of his ramblings give her some good ideas for magic and stuff, like putting Glyphs on cards.

The Blights are the cool rich kids obviously, and have some discipline and social issues. Big family name makes them intimidating for normies and a meal ticket for the unsavory. These kids need real friends. They decided to act out to get some attention from the parents who then decided to ignore them. “If you’re going to act like a child tantrum, get treated like one.” Ed is perfect for Drama classes, if he were allowed to partake. Can’t decide what Em is great at, hacking perhaps? Amity’s car is an inheritance from the only family to treat her as such Twins aside, even if she’s too young to remember it. She only remembers that she has feelings surrounding the car. All three of them were pretty impressed with Luz for standing up to them, calling them out on their shit, and not giving a crap about their family name. Being treated like a normal person is pretty weird. Can we get her to do that again?

Amity tried dating Boscha once, didn’t work out very well. Boscha is still hurting over Amity’s comment of “I’d rather go date the new weird kid (Luz) than go back to you.” It’s one of the reasons she goes after Luz. She has that kind of Bud personality from Spider Man, feels lesser and so acts out so much. 

“Wow, this new Witch is amazing. Not as cool as the original Witch.”

“What is it with the Witch with you?”

“Oh, she’s a hero. Looks out for the city and the little guy. She inspires me. Makes me want to be a bigger person. *sees Luz* What’s up Luz-er?”

~

And that’s what I got right now. I know there was more, but it’s lost to the void right now. Might come back later, maybe not. Lemme know what you think.

............

DAMN you weren’t lying when you said you had an info-dump this is *chefs kiss* you got me intrigued now

[bibatbrat]

Vox Machina Episode 2

Vex healing Keyleth’s poisoning... love is real

Percy retroactively saving Vax’s dumb ass by saying that they do indeed seal deals with drinks in human (?) culture

“I’ll just play a little music... not to distract you or anything...”

“To risking our lives.  For money.” Percy bitch, money is the most sensible thing you’re gonna risk your life for my dude

Grog calling Scanlan “hero” and “fearsome Scanlan”... bros for life

Grog cleaning out the Bag of Holding on this poor dwarf vendor guy...

“I use my rogue abilities to walk up to the door” *instantly vaporized*

“What if the flying carpet gets ruined!!!” (everyone freaking out) - moments that will haunt the party at a later date

Keyleth’s dwarf accent genuinely makes me lose my shit every time

The twins getting all Prim and Proper in the elf’s shop hurts my heart

Vax not buying potions because “I’m so fast I never really need to use them” - moments that will haunt Vax at a later date

Percy starting to tinker trick arrows for Vex <3

I love when Travis curses and he goes “Shit, balls, and ass!”

“Haha, those look like umberhulks.” “They are.” “NOOOOOOOO”

Scanlan’s Cunning Words being ~noooo motherfucker missssss~ ....beautiful

AND IT WORKED

For the love of God no one step on the snail

“I don’t have stats, I’m a bear.”

Vax throwing the snail-ified umberhulk into the waterfall lmaooo

RETURN OF THE SNAIL

Percy “that bitch” de Rolo critical hitting on a disadvantage

“NO ONE TOUCHES THE GNOME” (slash “nobody touches my man-wife”) lmaooo

Grog rage-attacking some poor asshole’s fucking bed and getting shot twice as karma

“A giant ass-cloud”

Fuck Those Wizards of the Coast, Man

God, I forgot that Robin and Grog have the same intelligence modifier lmaoo

[notfeelingthyaster]

Imagine (Son of Hades! Percy; Godswapped! Big Three's kids) (8/8) or (13/13)

Blood of Olympus pt.2 - The War

Hello! If you're here, it means you probably already know - but check the masterpost for both warnings and the other twelve parts.

I want to thank everyone who followed this fanfic? Imagine? AU? for the month it took us to get here. Tell me what you thought about it, if there's anything you are anxious to see in the epilogue - yes, we'll have an epilogue!

If you like my writing, you might be happy to know that I'm starting another AU - same style, no patience for prose - this time, a daughter of Zeus! Percy. Don't worry - it bares almost no similarities to this, and part 1 will be out before the epilogue, so stay tuned. For now, good reading :))

Maybe it was the death of Malcolm, but after that night, there was something different about the crew of the Argo II. Their journey to Gaea changed them.

Will notifies them as soon as morning rises, leaving Annabeth secluded in her room and Perseus to whatever was happening upstairs - they are told not to interfere.

No one knows exactly what happened on the deck between Perseus and whoever dared to attack them - there is nothing there but sea salt and dried ichor when Frank goes to take his shift.

The screams will haunt him for the rest of his life - they pleaded for mercy, but after this journey, no one in here is a merciful person.

There's an aura - an aura Frank recognizes well, for it clogged around Hazel in her first days in Nova Roma. An aura of death. Perseus is looking at the sunrise, cleaning his gold-stained ax.

He looks happy - for the first time since Tartarus, he is humming a melody to some song that Frank is pretty sure is from Disney. Percy grins at Frank.

"Hey, man."

Frank doesn't ask. He trusts Perseus - Perseus took a whip to the back, side by side with him. Perseus fell on Tartarus for his best friend. Perseus would give his life for any of them. The son of Mars Ultor is sure he did what he had to do.

It still spooks him a little when Perseus leaves, whistling what he now recognizes as Fathoms Bellow.

They're journeying to Delos - for more half a day - and then, finally, to Athens. Frank wonders if the monsters are too afraid of them - or if Gaea just told them to stop attacking.

The fact is that, for several hours, no monster touches them again. Might be the death air encapsulating the ship's bow. Might just be their reputation.

With nothing to do, Frank watches as the sun rises and his friends starting to walk around.

Leo has no fixed hours - so he might be either awakening or going to sleep. He crosses through Frank in his post and rambles for a second - the Legionis thinks it's cute.

Leo crosses Hazel - she never wakes past eight unless she had a night shift - who is probably going to breakfast. They exchange a kiss, and Frank's heart aches.

Hazel stops to talk with Jason - the last one awake, since Perseus and Will are probably sleeping, Annabeth still hasn't left her room, and Nico and Piper went to their room after the morning announcements - probably to grief.

The blonde is uncharacteristically serious for such an early hour, but with recent news, it's expected. Frank goes back to look at the sea - and wonder if any of them will ever be free of this.

The two of them retract to the war room - to plan the attack on Gaea. They are at a serious disadvantage. It might be better for them to ride back to Long Island and try to unit the camps and plan a war - just like they did with Kronos/Mount Otris.

It's very improbable that Gaea will give the same considerations to put Manhattan to sleep. Kronos wanted power - not to destroy humanity. Gaea is a nesting mother who lost her kids - she wants chaos.

But with all giants here - wouldn't be easier to do this here? Even if they have no support whatsoever? If they tailed back to Long Island, would the giants run rampant through Europe?

They wait until after lunch - when everyone is more or less up - to congregate and vote.

"There are seventeen giants - one for each Olympian plus Trivia, Proserpina, and the Fates, except for Dyonisus who has two and the twins who share two - and nine of us."

"Fifteen" Retorts Percy from his place opposite to Jason "I killed Aristaeus - the bane of Proserpina - yesterday. And the bane of Ares... Damasen... he was a good giant. He didn't reform."

Jason doesn't argue - Perseus was the one on Tartarus - even though he wants to ask who helped him kill the giant - and if he killed them afterward.

Fifteen is still a staggering number of giants. They have no chance alone - so after Delos, they solve to make their last stand on Camp Half-Blood.

Will, Perseus, and Jason are the ones to go down to the small island. Finding Apollo is exceptionally easy: it's just a matter of following the sound of the lyre.

He laughs at their request - full-blown laugh. Jason wants to punch him - the world is ending.

"There's no need for flowers. You already have the Physician's Cure. This is a name my son gave to his union to Zagreus - life and death."

Jason wants to scream. He wants to kill Nike - who is in her island, chilling after sending them in a goose chase. But Perseus and Will are already miles ahead of him - whatever happened last night unlocked something in him, even if the gloves never left.

"You'll come to Long Island. You'll fight - for as long as needed - against Orion and Gration." It's Will - defying his own father. Jason doesn't know if he has the courage.

"Promise - on your immortality, because I don't trust the Styx."

"I could still evaporate you"

"You won't. You need us too much."

Apollo promises - maybe because he sees everything and knows more than Jason about whatever will happen, maybe because that ax still bears gold in it - and exchanges some words with Will that neither of them hear as they walk back on board to tell the news.

Will and Percy disappear into a room - it makes something stir in Jason's stomach, as he remembers that he no longer knows this Perseus, but the one he knows, he loves.

Will and Perseus talk for hours - before being invaded by Leo - only to keep talking until the next morning.

"Change course to Athens. We have the Physician's Cure. Gaea will rampage through Europe. Hercules is on her side. There's no way we can go back now."

They agree - there's no crossing Hercules little island again.

An IM from Reyna cements their decision. A group of demigods serving Gaea - including the Censor that unjustly tried Hazel and was exiled - tried ambushing she and her sister - but the Amazons and the Hunters won against them. Thalia is alive - and she drove an arrow through Gwen's eye, the traitor in Nova Roma.

The Hunters called the Pegasi - and they all set course to Athens - while Reyna followed the statue who set course by the sea. Pegasus himself is going to Athens - he fought once against the Giants, he would do again.

They reach Athens in a little more than five hours. It's the last day of their time - and they are ambushed as soon as they cross the Parthenon.

They fight well - Gaea wants Perseus and Piper, so they rally around them.

Perseus is a fighting beast himself, but he is overwhelmed by the sheer number of monsters and unable to help others. He kills the Minotaur once again - the armies of monsters are almost endless - is the battle of Manhattan all over again.

Piper strikes against the three gorgons - Medusa can't petrify anyone without petrifying her own allies - and keeps the head as a prize.

Nico is in the sky - he looks like part of the storm. The flying monsters rally around him, but Nico doesn't disappoint - his sword cuts through them like butter.

In the end, the nine annihilate the whole army - Gaea has just her giants now.

But in the fray, two griffins escape - carrying with them Jason and Hazel. Now they have no option but to follow.

Perseus almost hits his head on the wall. Why was he so dumb? Gaea was playing them. Gender had nothing to do with the sacrifice - it's just one of the sea, one of the earth. And Hazel, as much as she is a daughter of the sky, her powers exist on earth.

He could deal with the bounty hunt on him. Even on Piper - just a person to protect - but not on two. He was not expecting this. Perseus thinks Gaea must be laughing right now.

He feels guilt creep on him. That was his plan, and now two of his best friends are gone in the sky. Leo looks even worse than him - he is weeping as if the two demigods are already dead. They probably are.

Annabeth takes the reins - and they fly to the Acropolis quicker than ever. The ship slams against the ground - it probably needs repairs. But they are here.

Jason doesn't remember feeling that much pain. He wakes up, chained in a sacrificial altar, Hazel just behind him. Their powers don't answer - the chains are as dark as Perseus' ax: stygian iron. In front of them, Porphyrion and Polybotes laugh.

"We'll be glad to offer your fathers your severed heads"

He wishes to talk back - but his mouth doesn't work. It's Clytius taking his voice away, right behind them - holding a scyther that is not unfamiliar. Is the same scyther that took Uranus manhood - the same one that cut him to pieces and reduced him to the sky.

"We take an arm from the daughter of the earth, blood and flesh, so that her connection with the ground is given to our Mother, so she is able to reclaim her dominion."

There's blood everywhere. Hazel's left arm is twitching on the floor, and she lets out an ear-splitting scream, before passing out.

"We take the ability from reproduce from the son of the sea, blood and flesh, so that his fertility will be given to our Mother, so she is able to reproduce again, the ability his father took from her."

Jason feels like the world is spinning. They will... they... they want to castrate him. He sees Hazel's blood staining the marble and the floor, running through his skin, and he wants to vomit - but something is preventing him from doing so.

Hazel is paling fast - she'll be dead in thirty minutes if they don't stop the bleeding. But he can't move. He can't help. A scream strangles in his throat.

If Hazel's voice was able to cut through Clytius magic, would his powers too? If he focused enough if he stretched himself enough.

Jason forces himself to stop thinking about the chanting, and focus. He imagines Nico - with no family, losing Hazel. Or Frank and Leo. Or Perseus. He pushes and pushes.

He doesn't find a source of water - but he feels her blood. He can stop it from coming out - just for a second, just for a minute, just until they rescue them.

They are going to rescue them. They are - none of them are dying today. They have to survive this war.

Jason focuses his thoughts on good things. After this, he is going to go to college. He is going to spend time with his sister. He'll work on greek-roman relations. He'll ask the male Praetor on a date. He'll punch Octavian. Everything will be just fine.

The scyther is just over Clytius head, ready to strike when an arrow takes its place in his eye. Thalia, mounted on Pegasus, barges in. The horse is bigger than Clytius - and he takes their chains, before flying off to the arena.

Thalia cuts his chains - throwing a gladius at him. Hazel is still passed out - curled into herself in the ground. Jason stands before her, still doing his best to keep her blood inside. It won't work for long.

The giants follow them - but to no effect. The ship crashes between them, the demigods jumping off - armed to the teeth. With a scream of war, the Amazons and the other Hunters come flying in their own Pegasi.

Reyna is not with them - Jason hopes, not for the first time, that the demigod settlements are in peace. That they won't have to deal with two battlefronts.

It's not the time for petty wars. They should be here, helping, if they were not caught up in past fights of over a hundred years ago. Gaea is much more urgent than whatever they are debating.

These fighters are not enough - they are fighting a losing battle. No gods are coming, and between immortal hunters and Amazons, no one is a deity.

Jason starts thinking he is hallucinating - wishful thinking - for the sky opens, and from there descents all the Olympians and Hecate. Nike is the first to appear, guiding the chariot of Zeus, a scream of battle in her lips.

Juno is in a chariot guided by peacocks. Behind her, Aphrodite - that's not Venus, but Jason has never seen Aphrodite so ready for war. There are no doves or flowers in her - just a giant bow and arrow and a spear, riding in a horse side by side with her husband and her lover.

All twelve Olympians, plus Hades, plus the Fates, plus Trivia, Nike, Juventa, Bia, and Enyo. Proserpina is not there - nor the court of Atlantis.

Jason can't help but think is too little too late. Why they didn't show before? Before Hazel lost her leg? Before Malcolm died? Before Perseus fell? Before this journey took everything from them?

The gods pair off with their children - Hades with Perseus, Athena with Annabeth, Aphrodite with Piper, Mars with Frank, Zeus with Nico, Hephaestus with Leo, Juno with Hylla, Thalia with Poseidon.

Before pairing with Will - who looks reluctant to do it - Apollo comes to them. Jason is good enough to go - but he won't leave Hazel.

"I can't regrow her arm - not here, not now. And never, if it has been amputated by a titan weapon. The best I can do is close it."

Jason is so tired of the gods being unable to do stuff they should be capable of, but he sighs and nods. Hazel's color starts coming back, even if she doesn't wake up.

It's Trivia who comes to take the place of Jason. He stalls - he doesn't trust any deity anymore with the well-being of his friends - but they are not much, and they need him to fight. He joins Ceres as she raises a sickle to go against her bane - Asterius.

The hunters follow their mistress and Amazons divide themselves between the remaining gods - Dyonisus and Mercury - and they attack.

It's not enough. They are stretched too thin. Clytius is the only fallen one after thirty minutes of battle - Trivia burns him down in rage for her acolyte and makes a still groggy Hazel make a little cut on so he dissolves.

Perseus fights alongside his father, mounting Mrs. O'Leary as he does Cerberus. Small Bob can't die unless struck by celestial bronze, so the giant's effort to kill the creature is useless. Both of them don't hold back. It's the first time he really remembers his training with the Lord of the Dead. But mostly, he remembers Persephone too, and the gardens of the Underworld.

Percy has to go back to her. To his stepmom, and his mom, and his other stepmom. He has to go back to his life - the life he can barely remember now, but that was everything for him.

He has to go back to the gardens and the lakes, to blue cookies and bare feet. At least one of the rulers had to be in the Underworld, so Persephone is waiting for them to come back.

It gives Perseus strength. They have to win, so the earth can prosper - so that they can go back to the Underworld. So he can meet Thanatos, and play with Cerberus, and debate with Charon. So that they can be a family.

They keep fighting, but even with Perseus renewed will, there's no winning. Alcyoneus retorts them blow for blow and they tire quickly. Hades turns to him - there's a grim expression in his face when he throws his helmet to Perseus.

Perseus notices to late what his father is about to do - and is unable to prevent it.

"FATHER"

It's the first time he recognizes it. Hades has always been the lord of the dead to him - he only ever called him father in mockery. But this time, it's yelled in anguish.

"Tell Kore that I love her."

A giant blow from the Lord of the Dead makes both of them stumble. The giant falls to the floor, but not before running his sword through Hades' neck.

It's the first god to fall, and when Perseus cuts Alcyoneus' head in return, he stays dead. But it's not enough, because Hades is dead.

He'll have to tell Kore. Kore that loves Hades so much that she leaves the surface for months on end to stay with him. He'll have to tell her that he wasn't enough to save Hades.

Cerberus whine loudly and tries to wake his master - he sniffs at the ground soiled by ichor. No giant is able to approach the body or Perseus - Cerberus growls at every enemy who tries. Small Bob stays by his side, fighting alongside him.

A tear escapes his eye. After so much time, so much resentment, he didn't think he would care. His father lies on the floor like a puppet with the strings cut - and Perseus rages. He closes his father's eyes but doesn't stop - there's still a war going on, so he puts on the Helm of Darkness and goes on to join Ceres and Jason.

A scream rings through the arena - is Poseidon, noticing his oldest brother is gone. He throws his trident at Polybotes head - between him and Thalia, the giant is gone in the next ten minutes.

The god of the sea runs through the field, stepping through dead bodies and avoiding the corner where Trivia is taking care of Hazel. He clutches his brother's prone body and cries, ichor staining his clothes. Cerberus whines at his sound - it's heartbreaking.

Across the field, all four siblings cry together for their fallen brother, but none of them as badly as Poseidon. There's a cold spreading through the field - and soon enough, the sky opens again.

It's Vesta. The last Olympian - the one who stayed behind to tend to the hearth. But now, she looked as fiery as her nephew - descending from the sky with no armor or chariot. The eldest child.

Family - that's Vesta domain. Perseus never saw her fight, but she does this time - throwing herself against the closest giant - Gration.

But Hades is not the last to fall.

Between Jason and Perseus, there's no match for Asterius. Ceres cuts his head off, still sobbing for her son-in-law and brother, sobbing for her widowed child. It doesn't help when her sister falls by her side - Juno, in full battle armor, is cut in half by Eurymedon.

Perseus thinks it might be a scene worthy of being painted - her lifeless eyes stare at the sky, as her crown rolls off her and stops at the giant's feet. Hylla keeps on fighting - now joined by her mother, who changes from Enyo to Bellona.

Zeus, in rage for his wife's death, kills Porphyrion before striking against Eurymedon with his general and her daughter. Nico, even if he never cared for Juno, follows suit - there's a path of destruction behind them, where lightning bolts hit the floor and filled the ground with craters.

Dyonisus kills Elphiates with his oldest daughter by his side, but his brother doesn't die as easily. Athena is still fighting against Enceladus - Annabeth striking the giant from all angles, in perfect synchrony with her mother, with help from Nike, who shields them both with her wings.

Mars and Mercury fight against Hippolytus - but he is faster than even the god of travelers, and evade them at every turn. Frank is a dragon, and then an elephant, and a snake - but nothing hits the giant.

After a blow on the arm by Bia, Periboea spears the still masculine body of Piper. Her blood falls from in-between her legs as Aphrodite - scarier than even Ares - runs her spear through the giantess's eye, killing her.

To save her daughter, Aphrodite shifts her completely into a girl - it's jarring, and something that takes adaptation, but the only way she can keep fighting without dropping.

But it's too late, the damage is done. Gaea is awake, by the seed of a daughter of the sea. Perseus exchanges a look with Leo through the fray - Mimas is just defeated, as Hephaestus smashed his head in with his hammer, but he regenerates quickly as if nothing happened.

There's no winning anymore. The fallen giants don't rise again - the Doors are closed - but the seven remaining ones don't die either - Enceladus, Eurymedon, Orion, Mimas, Otis, Hippolytus, and Thoon - their mother healing all their injuries.

The gods that killed their banes rally together against Gaea - but it's futile. It's just like Perseus in Tartarus - there's no battling a primordial in their own turf.

Will leaves his father to battle Orion, with his sister and the hunters - as Gration lays, probably dead, across the feet of his brother, courtesy of Vesta - and joins the duo.

The three of them sprint through the muddy ground, and onto Festus. There's no winning from Gaea on the ground - but they might have one way.

"Don't let me die, okay?"

Will and Percy join hands across Leo's forehead - and try to bless him the best they can, without being gods themselves. A green sheen covers Leo - and this might be it.

Leo mounts Festus - now again a giant dragon - and rises to the sky. It is enough to attract the Earth. She leaves her battle against Vesta, Aphrodite, Bia, Poseidon, and Ceres - to go after the dragon.

"Trying to escape me, my little demigod?"

An explosion of fire rocks the sky. It's not enough to kill Gaea, but between Zeus' thunder and Leo's explosion, the primordial is unconscious.

Perseus focuses - on keeping Leo's soul in his body. Will, by his side, shines as Apollo himself - there's a sheen of sweat in his face. It might've worked

None of them have the power to kill her now - just the union of all the remaining Olympians would even be capable of rendering her asleep again.

They can't find Festus or Leo - Perseus renders this as a good sign, the sign that their powers were enough.

But for now, with her unconscious, she can't heal the giants. So the remaining gods do quick work of killing them - the last to fall is Eurymedon, with Zeus' bolt across his forehead.

The king of the gods falls on his knees and weeps. Juno is dead. Hades is dead. There are six hunters and twenty amazons remaining - from tens and hundreds.

Mrs. O'Leary died - from a stray arrow. Cerberus paws the ground where her dust is - Perseus can't even imagine his puppy back on Tartarus.

Nike - both wings pointing into different sides, spine broken by Enceladus foot - is sprawled on the ground. Her unblinking eyes stare at Athena, who is holding her hand.

"Did... did we... win?"

"Y-yes"

"Give them the... the crowns... don't forget..."

"I won't"

"There's no... no friends.... in victory. I wish I had... someone."

"I am your friend, Nike"

"My best one... don't let them forget.... champions don't die..."

"Never"

She gags in her own blood. It drips around her chin. It's the first time Perseus sees Athena cry. It hits him - they, all of them, have known each other for thousands of years.

Mars is crying by his mother's head, his spear broken on his feet. Juventa, burned blonde hair blowing around her face, hugs Hephaestus as he cries for their mother - the one that never cared for them, but that was their mother anyway.

Vesta has Hades head on her lap, while his body lays broken on the floor. Ceres is trying to calm Poseidon - but the god of the sea can't stop crying.

On the other side of the Arena, most demigods are together around Hazel - Will is explaining about Leo, but most of them look hopeless. Hazel is crying in Frank's arms.

Eight of them are here - Hazel is missing an arm, Piper went through a jarring body change and Frank has a broken leg - but eight of them are alive, and there's hope for Leo.

Perseus stands in the middle - not joining the gods or the demigods. He looks at the ichor stained floor, the upcoming battle against Gaea looming. Cerberus and Small Bob are together on each side of him.

Apollo - from where he is laying with his unconscious, but alive, sister - raises to help the demigods. None of them are happy about any godly presence - but they need treatment, so they let it happen.

Perseus is the first to break the silence after everyone is healed. Some gods are still crying - but there's no time for grief now. He doesn't look at where his father lays dead - he can't process this right now.

"We... we need to go. To Long Island. We need reinforcements - the war isn't over."

"We need to recharge" Is Hephaestus that retorts "There's no way we can fight right now. Maybe in a day or so but..."

"I don't think we have this time." Jason points "We could try and stall things, prepare... Can you send us there?"

"I can" Say Pegasus, who was fighting alongside Thalia.

Perseus wants not to care. To say that Juno or Nike deserved it. But it's not fair - not even them deserve to die, to go back to the void or Tartarus to reform or be lost for centuries.

Annabeth, however, sits in her corner with the ghost of a smile in her lips - so many demigod's lifes lost for them, for their petty struggles, and now they have to pay the price too. Everyone is paying the price now.

If they helped before, if they didn't spend months cooperating with Juno's useless plan, perhaps now no one would be dead. They could have united the demigods without waisting eight months on stupid missions to kill giants - just for them to come back.

If they stopped thinking about their "oh so bad" split personalities, maybe they could've made this journey quicker, instead of letting them spend two months going in side-quests, fighting minor gods, and retrieving useless information.

So yes, Annabeth is vindicated. This - all of this, those deaths, the ichor soiling the ground - it's their fault.

Piper feels tired. This - this body, this recognition from her mother - is all she ever wanted. But now that she has it, she can't even appreciate it. Was it worth it? She would give everything back for Perseus' leg, Hazel's arm, Malcolm, Leo.

She looks at their mismatched little family - and remembers that yesterday, they had lunch together - all of them. It was not the best moment, but they were laughing.

They could've been happy. If they weren't demigods, most of them would be in college by now. They wouldn't be broken.

Perseus solves to travel by shadows with Cerberus - he still has his father's Helm, and the immortal horse won't let him mount with it. He feels sick - that's his father's dog and his father's armor. But that's their chance of survival.

No god look at him when he melts into the darkness - it's too fresh, too painful. Part of their family is dead.

She jumps on the Pegasus, holding Hazel up - she can barely hold on to her brother in front of her. The wound is closed, but the daughter of Jupiter is off-balance - there's nothing on her right side.

Hazel closes her eyes and rests her head across Nico's back - she is so tired. Leo is gone - maybe forever - and she doesn't have an arm. There's nothing there - nothing. She goes to move and she forgets it for a second - but then she tries to hold tighter to Nico and can't.

Nico feels his sister's tears on the back of his shirt and holds tight to Frank - who is almost strangling Will in his efforts not to panic - he is flying over the sea.

Jason is behind Piper - he is the last one - and he is much more comfortable. That's his half brother after all.

They land in Long Island after ten painful hours - and Will seethes, because their journey could have been so easy, so small - but the gods were too occupied by their insignificant problems that they had to journey for months.

One after the other, they dismount just shy of the river - Jason thinks the naiads look mad when Frank vomits all over their water.

"Flying on a ship is a thing. Flying on a horse is another."

He stills looks queasy when they cross the Pavillion. There's no one there, which is weird because it's morning. There's no one anywhere.

Perseus - powered by the Helm - is the first to get there - almost two hours before them. And the first thing he listens makes him utterly mad.

"Give our soldiers back - or Nova Roma will strike back!"

It's Octavian's voice coming from the hill that harbors Thalia's tree - and Perseus sighs. He looks at himself - he needs a shower, and sleep, and food. They need traps. They don't need a second war.

He is in no condition to fight right now. So he'll have to put his diplomatic skills to use - just the reminder of his father's death sparks a dull pain in his chest - still covered in ichor and dust, his ax slung over his shoulder.

Cerberus stays by his side. Perseus sends Small Bob to Persephone through the old Labyrinth entrance - he needs the big dog, but the skeleton tiger would just be easy prey.

"TWELVE LEGION, STOP"

Perseus looks mightly tired as he takes on the scene - the greeks following Clarisse, Connor, and Lou, the Romans following Octavian and Mike Kahale. Reyna between them, with the gigantic statue.

The demigod looks between his first and his second family, none that he ever fit right, both of which he was the leader, and hold on to Cerberus.

"We - and by we, I mean nine of us, greeks and Romans, the Amazons, and the hunters - just defeated fifteen giants, with the gods. In Athens. We could've - and should've - had reinforcements."

"Percy-" Connor starts, but Percy raises a hand to stop him. There are shadows curling against his arms - his celestial bronze leg shines under the Athena Parthenos.

"I may have been gone for a while, but I'm still your leader - and their Praetor. You choose me to lead - both of you. Me, and Reyna, and Annabeth, and Frank, and Jason."

"Praetor Jackson-"

"Shut the hell up Octavian, this is all your fucking fault" Intercedes Reyna.

"I went through Tartarus - for a month - because of that damned statue, to close the Doors so you could be safe. I don't care about your petty little problems now - Earth has risen."

"IT'S A LIE, IT'S ALL LIES" Screeches Octavian.

"How can you know? You were here, raising trouble and creating unnecessary problems while we went on the freaking mission to save the world."

Octavian tries to reply, but Reyna's sword in his throat stops him.

"My father is dead. The gods are coming - but we need to stall Gaea. There's no time for this."

"I say kill him." Replies Reyna.

"I agree." Says Perseus, to the surprise of no one "We're the Praetors of Nova Roma. Our word is the law. For treason against our people, you're condemned to death, Octavian Simmons."

"Apollo will curse you for this!" Are his last words as Reyna cuts his head off. Mike Kahale backs down - no one would dare to go against them, not when Perseus is holding the symbol of his father in his hands and the Guardian of Hell in his side.

"Now that... that was solved, let's prepare for the true war. Gaea is coming - in hours from now. We have to hold on until the gods come."

They enter the Camp - the Greeks and the Romans aren't a unit, but at least they all trust Perseus, who sits on the top of the amphitheater with Reyna, and they wait until the others get there. Jason is the first to come to sit down by them - followed by the other six.

"I won't ask you to trust each other. I ask you to fight - with all that you can. Juno and Pluto, or Hera and Hades, are dead." Cries erupt from that, but silence quickly at Reyna's fulminant look "Nike, or Victory, has also fallen. Pray for your parents - burn food, whatever - so that they can take strength. They should be here in a few hours. We just need to hold on."

"Romans and Greeks - no one will survive if we don't fight. Together. For now, you take your orders from Reyna and Clarisse." It's Jason who completes.

Reyna and Clarisse sit down to discuss ideas - they don't trust each other, but are both daughters of war - and their objectives are simple. Lou goes to call her brother as Connor joins the table - Alabaster apparently refused to join the battle against the Romans.

While Romans and Greeks trade strategies and weapons, the travelers rest. Perseus is the first to fall asleep - holding his father's Helm of Darkness like a teddy bear, while most of the others keep their distance from it.

Cerberus makes the campers stay away from the eight. Two of his heads sleep and one keeps growling at whoever gets too close.

Annabeth is the last to fall asleep - she joins the strategy group for about thirty minutes before joining her quest mates behind the giant dog - it sniffs at her. She wonders if remembers the red rubber ball.

They have eleven hours to plan and rest. It's a miracle - Leo managed to knock Gaea down for 21 hours, almost a day.

At least is enough time for everyone to sleep and eat and plan traps. It won't be enough against the primordial, but it might just hold her for a while. They have no way of causing explosions to Leo's proportion - at least they have numbers.

Gaea rises from the earth like an evil mountain - she is the ground. Some of them - the ones on bare earth - die immediately, sucked into the mud as it turns to quicksand.

Frank takes the lead as the whole army charges against the goddess, striking again and again in every part they can find.

They last the three hours before the gods appear - but they lose two-thirds of their forces. Mangled corpses are everywhere on the battlefield.

The gods win - against a tired Gaea - without major losses for themselves. There's no need to recount their battle, for they will lord about it for many centuries.

What counts, however, is the deaths on the demigods' side - the ones who will be forgotten in the shadow of their parents' victory.

Connor sobs over the almost unrecognizable body of his brother, who died holding hands with Katie Gardner, being veiled by her sister, Miranda.

Hazel is helping Alabaster to find his sister, who missing somewhere in the rubble with the other 56 demigods, who are unaccounted for. The first they find is Clarisse - her still hot corpse trying in vain to protect Chris Rodriguez.

Jason holds Thalia's circlet - the only remaining thing of the Lieutenant of Artemis, who came into the battle with her mistress and died to save her. There are just two hunters alive. The sister he barely knows - and won't ever have the chance now.

Piper holds on to him - she can't bear to look as Mitchell and Ariel mourn little Lacy, killed by a fallen tree. Drew died taking a stone to the head for Piper - she doesn't know how to feel about it.

Will would help - but sadness devours him. Of his whole Cabin, he is the sole survivor. All greek children of Apollo are gone. His boyfriend is also dead - his metal foot caught on the quicksand, and he was swallowed by the earth.

Nyssa mourns her siblings - Jake, Leo, Thalassa, Kira. There's only six of them now - back to where they were just after the first war.

Reyna is alive - although with half of her face burned. Hylla - the last of the Amazons - hovers over her, tending to her injuries.

The smaller cabins help each other - there wasn't a lot of them at first, and now there is even less. Cabin 17 has no demigod alive - and won't ever house one again.

Frank is helping the legion to unearth the bodies and rescue the survivors - it's weird to see a giant mole with only an eye. He is the one who holds Hazel's hand as they have to break Lou Ellen's arm to take her from under a pillar.

Grover died protecting Juniper from Gaea's earthquakes. He became a little juniper tree, side by side with hers. Coach Hedge is the only satyr from Camp Half-Blood left.

But maybe the worst scene is where the Pavillion once was - Perseus Jackson is flicking in and off, large gashes in his torso. Hazel is the one to find him. Most of the survivors - and the eight travelers - stop to look. It's their leader, their savior.

Nico holds his head as blood pools under them - the irony, Perseus took a boulder in the chest for him, flying across the Camp at the end of the battle, and Nico was again unable to catch the hero.

Annabeth sobs over his body, screaming. She lost Luke to the gods. She lost Thalia to the gods. She lost Malcolm to the gods. She lost Leo to the gods. She lost Grover to the gods. Everyone is gone - she won't lose Perseus too.

"FIX HIM" She screams at Apollo "FIX HIM"

Apollo shakes his head sadly. In his benefit, he managed to save all demigods who still held on after battle - and most of their limbs - but Perseus is too far gone.

"FIX HIM! HE SAVED YOU. ALL OF YOU. HE DESERVES TO LIVE!"

"Annabeth, he is beyond-"

"YOU ARE GODS! WHAT ARE YOU FOR?"

"We can't, child"

Annabeth doesn't relent. She lost too much. She lost everything. They took all she was, all she had. She won't fail Perseus.

"Immortalize him."

"Annabeth, no-"

"Shut up, Nico" She barks. There's a mad look in her eyes. "You didn't let Heracles die, and he deserved it far less. Save Percy. Make him a god. You have the Fates right there."

Most of the gods look uncertain. Perseus denied immortality the last time - but they couldn't let the hero die.

"DO IT"

No one disagrees with her. Most of their friends - the ones who know Perseus better, who aren't blinded by grief - look horrified.

Nico would argue strongly - but he promised himself that no harm would come upon Perseus after Tartarus. So he backs off - better than he hates them forever than dead.

Zeus is the one who finally takes a step forward. Perseus soul is almost leaving him - it's now or never.

"All in agreement?"

The gods nod and raise their hands over his prone body. It burns so brightly everyone has to look away

When they look again, there's Perseus - still missing a leg, but better than ever. He looks like his father - uncannily so. There are tears in the corners of Ceres's eyes. Poseidon can't look.

Juventa brings the jar of nectar - she is the one who can grant eternal life, the one who guards over her mother's apples. She puts the jar to his lips, and the boy - the god - wakes up, disoriented.

"W-what... h-how am I here? I-I was with Charles and... and Ethan..." He mumbles under his breath, looking lost.

The Fates look at him - but there's no pity in their eyes. He sees again the blue line being cut - is his life. It's gone. Even before they speak, he knows what happened.

"Earthopener, The Silent One, The Rich One, Lord of the Dead. Hail Perseus, the Underworld God"

[cbspams]

District 4: Fishing

The kids from One and Two are pretty alright, all things considered. They have way more personality than the previous years at least. One was a little intimidating at first, with his aloof model smoulder but then, he’s a lot prettier when he’s giggling over a dumb joke. Or at least Chan thinks he is.

Technically the Career pack doesn’t always include Four. It’s kind of like an on again, off again relationship with an ex. Only the good tributes get in, the useful ones. Hence why Chan is sitting with One and Two while his partner is squirreled away at some table by herself. But there’s no sympathy to be had when Chan can see the ruthlessness in Hyunjin and Jeongin’s eyes. (But even then, Chan just knows he’s just going to check up on his partner later in the comfort of their apartment. Partner is a strange concept nowadays. Chan wonders when it will stop existing, when it will only be me and them. Kai says it happens when you least expect it. So Chan decides to never expect it.)

Lunch ends uneventfully. The Careers stick together in the afternoon, whistling and howling at each other, hyping each other up to the point that the other tributes might as well be candle flickers to their wildfire. The pack takes it easy but they’re never sloppy. Even when Jeongin complains, throws an ax without looking, he still hits dead center. It sends a shiver down Chan’s back. Not that he’ll let anyone know that.

Outside of the Careers, there’s a few others Chan’s interested in. The kid from Three is smart, eyes bright despite his stoic face. Five and Eight looks like twin stars, suns in different ways. They’ll probably soak up sponsors like nothing, with mega watt smiles and adorable freckles. Seven’s smart. Despite spending most of his time at the camouflage station and doing light cosmetic work, Chan notices how he studies every other tribute. Notices the shrewd pull of his lips into the tiniest frown. And finally the kid from Ten. The one who had slammed into the tension head first at lunch. He’s wicked sharp, testing the weight of knives before he slashes. His eyes burn like superheated iron. Chan keeps an eye on him especially, because an untamed beast is as much of a threat as anything else the Gamemakers can cook up.

And yet. All those other tributes? They’ll never amount to the same threat as the Careers. Not even the kid from Ten. All the other tributes are smaller, thinner, not quite as agile or flexible or any other adjective Chan can even think of. They’re all trained to survive, true, but they’re not trained to kill. Not like the Careers. No one is ever trained quite like the Careers. It’s only day one so Chan hasn’t gotten much information out of them but he knows the stories. And survival too can only bring you so far when you’re being hunted. In the end, only a pinch of victors made it through on survival alone. And no one has made it without a kill on their hands.

In Four, tributes aren’t specifically trained to survive or to kill. There’s nothing like the Center in Two or the Marble in One. There’s no struggle for food or drinkable water in Four. But Four tributes are taught everything they need to know in their day to day life. How to best hunt from a disadvantage. How to dive deep and dig in their claws and never let go of even the slipperiest of prey. And, as the gods no one believes in would have it, Chan was blessed from the start. He might not be tall but he’s strong. His shoulders are broad, his arms thick, his hands big. He was made to spear and row and lift. He’s strong enough, physically. It doesn’t hurt to be strong, physically.

In the end, though, that won’t matter. That’s not what will keep him alive, it never is.

No, what’s going to keep him alive are his easygoing charms, the ones that get people to open up to him. The soft smile he has when he’s congratulating Hyunjin on a complex knot (completed in record time). The light pat on Jeongin’s shoulder when he flips the trainer for the umpteenth time. He’s going to play the crowd, make them all see him as a sweetheart, and lower defenses until he can go in and gut them like a fish. It’s flawless, his mentor murmured in his ear at the beginning of the day. Get in close, take them down from the inside out. Kai is bold and fearless like that. Chan’s lucky they’re matched together. He believes Kai when he says they’re going back home when it’s all over. Back to the sea that washes everything away, blood and sins alike.

——————

The Gamemakers start filing in midway through day two of training, just before lunch. The Careers pretend not to notice, but of course they do. Everything starts to become more subtle, less outright intimidating and more intricately techniqued. The other tributes who’ve never trained wouldn’t even be able to tell the differences. Chan himself misses a few of the changes, not well versed enough in the different stations, but he grits his teeth and pays attention because he’ll be damned if he misses something that’ll kill him.

He knew this before coming in but One is good at mind games. Hyunjin’s cheerful disposition from before slips into something that’s not quite real but not quite fake. A sort of wide eyed in between. No one would believe he’s innocent, not with the way One champions and tributes have behaved in the past. But he does a damn good job pulling the look, a dreamy smile on his face, a sweet lilt to his words. He doesn’t quite look like someone who can kill and Chan shores up his defenses tighter for it.

Two takes the opposite approach, or it seems like that on the surface. Jeongin’s already scrappy, different from the usual Two champions. So he seems to overcompensate, becoming more flashy. The trainer who spars with him gets carted away with a snapped arm. The arrows split each other until the target looks more like some oddly feathered creature. The ax’s hit harder and he purposely picks out poison to harvest. But even still, Chan knows there’s more. He hasn’t touched any kind of small tool. Chan knows the game he’s playing. The crowd always loved a small kid with the biggest, unwieldy weapon after all. The Gamemakers do too.

The private sessions come and go. There’s no anxiety in the first few rows of seats, instead only an overabundance of confidence. But if Chan twists back, he can see and feel fear rolling off the tributes in waves. Of course the worst is twelve, cowering. Do they even have a mentor? Maybe, maybe not. They said that Twelve’s only champion was going to kick the bucket sooner instead of later. Eleven’s got brave faces on. Ten A looks almost bored though, Chan notes with interest. Five and Eight... Excited? Seven calculating. Three he couldn’t see but his posture, despite being ramrod straight, betrayed some kind of languid relaxation. So Chan had been right, to keep an eye out on them. Maybe he’ll scout them more, when he has time. But for now, he stands as his name is called and walks into the vast empty room. Half the Gamemakers don’t look at him. He’ll make them see. He’ll turn all their attention to him and make them see him as he is, Bang Chan, a victor. One Gamemaker waves a hand idly, sipping on a glass of what is surely champagne.

“You may begin.”

——————

Profile

Name: Bang Chan

Age: 18

District: 4

Specialty: Spears and chokeholds

[blooblooded]

Lee bullies some children

It was only out of paranoia that Lee Harlan did not vape inside of Kip’s apartment. Logically he knew that the chances of it leaving an odor were low to none-- after all, he vaped inside of his own home and never noticed anything. But he used cherry flavored pods and the risk of Kip’s mother coming home, noticing the smell, and confronting her children about it was too great so he always went outside to the landing when he needed a hit of nicotine.

If Police Commissioner Nguyen found out that a 22 year old man was habitually hanging out at her home unsupervised with her children and their friends...it was best not to think about what would happen.

Lee slid the glass door shut behind him to ensure that no vapor could get inside, turned and found that he was not alone. Kip’s youngest friends were out there. Well, not his friends, not really, more like the kids that hung around because they had to. Esther Bellamy’s twin siblings and their friend.

And Marty.

He didn’t know how old any of them were, only that the differences in maturity between them and 18 year old Kip were noticeable. The twins, Eddie and Evangeline, sat in two of the landing’s rickety old deck chairs, pretty and redheaded, unconsciously mimicking each other’s body language. Nervous, quiet Rome sat in another chair. And on the table between chairs was propped a tablet, the screen broadcasting Marty’s face from the mysterious outside land he came from.

They had clearly been chatting amongst themselves but shut up the moment Lee came outside. He smiled at them and projected his will to put them at ease with his presence, then leaned against the railing and took a hit from his vape.

Instantly, there was a problem.

“Are you fucking smoking?” Marty demanded. His accent was strange, round and musical and nothing like anything heard in Eden. 

Lee exhaled. He didn’t understand why this kid had such a personal problem with him. They had met 4 times, and every time, Marty would try to incite him by accusing him of bad intentions. He didn’t trust him and nothing Lee said or did seemed to help. It was strange to not be liked instantly, usually his slight psychic abilities masked him from mistrust. “Relax, I’m vaping.”

Marty’s round face screwed up like it always did when he came across a term he did not understand. Dumb ass kid didn’t even know what vaping was. Where did he come from, that’s what Lee really wanted to know. How was he in contact with people in Eden? It was information he doubted he would ever get due to Marty’s hostility. He exhaled another cloud.

“Can you not do that around people?” said Marty. 

Lee looked at the other teenagers and raised his eyebrows. “Is this bothering you guys?” he asked.

“It’s cool,” said Eddie, who was trying to lean his chair back on two legs.

“Whatever,” said Evangeline.

Rome didn’t say anything. He usually didn’t, it was hard to get more than two words out of him. 

Still, it was all he needed. It wasn’t a no. Nobody ever said no to him. He smiled at Marty and continued to vape, enjoying the expression of pure disgust and anger he was receiving. 

It dawned on him that he desired to make Marty angry at him. The novelty of pissing off someone who was thousands of miles away and helpless to do anything about it was good. Getting away with doing things he knew was wrong always gave him a little thrill, it was one of the reasons that he had been enjoying hanging out with Kip and all his underage friends so much. Not because he had any ill will towards them or wanted to harm them, but because he found it funny that he could if he wanted to. Most of their parents were powerful people, a police commissioner, a career capitalist, a member of the intelligentsia: all people he hated on principle. If he wanted to, he could really hurt them. Not that he wanted to. He wouldn’t. But he could.

This was different. Marty was just a fat little teenager on a screen. He had no power over Lee. He was not responsible for any of his suffering, his poverty, his frustration. The only thing Marty had was the inability to be influenced by his psychic abilities. The only thing he could do was watch. Lee thought about all the things he could make Marty watch. He felt the sudden and unnatural urge to hurt him.

There was no reason for that. Lee liked to think of himself as a good person. Still, this urge grew inside his heart.

“What are you guys doing out here?” he asked them. He pointed at a soda bottle one of them had drunk. “Playing spin the bottle? That puts Marty at a disadvantage.” It was just a little joke but he watched the twins’ pale faces blush and Rome’s posture change. He knew he had made them uncomfortable. “Kidding, kidding, sorry. Really, what are you talking about out here all by yourselves?”

“You should go away,” said Marty. His wavy black hair seemed to puff up as he grew angrier. 

Eddie was the first to grow comfortable again. He leaned his chair back on two legs and held onto the table to balance himself. “We’re just talking about homework,” he said. He and his sister looked semi inhuman in the way that all genetically modified people looked to Lee. Artificials. The elite shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to ensure that their children would be beautiful, that unlike Lee, they would never have to worry about bad eyesight or crooked teeth. The Bellamy children all had clear, almost translucent skin and tall graceful bodies. Looking at them stirred up those old feelings of resentment at the knowledge that some people had a leg up on life from day one. He would always be treated differently than them. “We have papers due on social studies. I’m writing about the Prison District and stuff, you know. Jail. I’m going to ask Ms. Nguyen about it so I can get an A.”

The thought of the Prison District caused Lee to feel a chill down his neck and the short hairs there stand on end. Unbidden, he remembered the face of his mother; her sly smile and strong jaw resembled his own in his memories. But what memories did he really have of her? Few and far between. She had hung herself in her own cell when he was 12 years old, not long after being arrested, the reality of a life in a cage had been too much for her to bear and she had made the choice to evade that fate. 

At 17, he had contemplated that choice as well. He took a drag on his vape to clear his head.

“Just ask Kip,” said Evangeline, so curt and unpleasant for a girl her age. “Don’t you remember Kip getting arrested in July when he spray painted that building?”

“That doesn’t count, Vega bailed him out before anyone even knew that happened.”

“It does too count, if you got arrested even for five minutes you would be crying like a baby. Kip’s good at talking about that kind of stuff.”

Silent, Rome sat there and picked at one of his fingernails. On the little screen, Marty rolled his big black eyes.

Lee considered ways of endearing himself to these children. He wanted to know that he was not a threat, that they could trust him so that they would not betray him to any adult figures in their lives. At this point, he could not risk it. He had to stay close to Kip, after all the work he had put in with the kid, he couldn’t just throw that away. He needed-- Yancey needed-- him so that Eden could become a better place. At the end of the school year, Mayor Malena would make a speech in the School District, and Kip’s cooperation would allow the United People’s  Liberation Front to eradicate him and open Eden up for actual representation, not representation from a tyrant. For that to happen, he had to keep Kip on his side, and for //that// to happen, he had to keep Kip’s friends on his side.

Eddie Bellamy was still leaning his chair back and Lee felt the urge to stick out his foot and knock the chair leg so that he fell over. Instead, he smiled in a way that was open and disarming and tried to remember what he had learned in his Investigative Journalism course about building trust and credibility.

“I’ve been to prison,” he said, casual as anything. “I was in prison for 6 months.”

They all looked at him. Was this too much too fast? Or did teenagers think stuff like that was cool? He certainly had, at that age.

“Why were you in prison?” asked Marty, almost immediately.

Lee shrugged. “Because the system is unfair and oppressive. It discriminates against people who are poor.”

“Qu’est ce que ca-- What does that mean? That doesn’t mean anything, what did you--”

“Cool,” said Eddie. He took a handheld tablet out of his pocket. “OK so I don’t even need to talk to Ms. Nguyen, I can like, just talk to you and get this paper done before the weekend. Was it terrible? How was the food? Kip said they have to shower with everyone else in prison, did you have to do that? I would hate that.”

“Why are you even talking to this guy?” snapped Marty. “He just told you he was in prison, they don’t just send guys there on vacation! Can you listen to me for once, I wish that someone would just listen to me for once. Quit talking to him, he’s like 40 years old, you can just make things up and write them down, whatever he says is probably just as made up!”

“Can you calm down for once?” asked Evangeline. “Why are you always shouting?”

“Why would anyone even lie about something like that?” Eddie said blandly, typing on his tablet. “Let me think of some questions for you, Lee.”

Marty ground his teeth. “Rome,” he said pointedly. “Do you want to say something about this? Maybe about what you’ve been messaging me about this guy in private? Huh?”

It was clear that the heir to Prosperity Inc. did not like being around Lee, but was too anxious to say anything. He started to breathe in a fast, funny way. Lee raised his eyebrows at him and then looked at Marty. He smiled. It was a crooked smile because he could never afford to get braces. Marty’s face turned red.

“Do you really think I’m 40?” he asked him. “Really? You think I look like I’m 40? That hurts.”

The only response was a string of what was probably curses in the kid’s own language, and then the screen went white as he turned it off in a fit of temper.

Making him angry was pretty funny.

##

The next step was easy. Lee and Kip were in a computer lab, designing posters for an upcoming UPLF meeting. Due to the nature of what they talked about, Lee sometimes felt anxious about advertising the organization, but Yancey assured him it was fine. After all, they needed more people. More bodies.

Kip got frustrated by little things. He could not figure out how to rotate text the right way and was jiggling his leg. The small repetitive movements put Lee even more on edge. He put down his coffee and leaned over Kip’s workspace so that their shoulders touched, then took the mouse from him and fixed the poster easily. 

“Thanks,” said Kip, who didn’t move away when Lee touched him. “I just don’t really understand art.”

“That’s OK. There’s nothing to get.”

“Yeah.” Kip kept jiggling his leg. He smelled like body odor. Lately he had been neglecting personal hygiene. Lee couldn’t imagine such a thing. He spent upwards of an hour getting ready every morning.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Marty and his round little musical language. What did those words mean? In Eden they were taught that the land outside of the 10 Colonies was uninhabitable, but that was clearly just another lie. Clearly there were people there, people with civilization. Civilization both unlike and like the one in Eden. Marty had mentioned a revolution, a civil war, while arguing with Kip, and Lee had felt his blood run hot.

He wanted to know that it was possible.

He wanted to know that the world could change.

And then, there was that part of him that was fascinated by Marty. Like the differences and similarities between Eden and the strange land that Marty came from, the two of them had their own similarities and differences. Such vivid similarities. Such stark differences. It wasn’t normal for a man in his twenties to feel curiosity towards a teenager, but Lee knew that his intentions were not inappropriate. He was, after all, a good person. He just wanted to know more. He wanted to prod, just a little bit, to get a reaction.

Kip was typing a short informative blurb for the poster but had misspelled the word commodification. Lee moved his hands away again so that he could correct him. “You don’t have that kid Marty’s contact info, do you?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Would you send it to me?”

The long pause that followed reminded Lee that this was a weird request. It hinged upon his assumption that Kip would do anything he asked him to, no matter how absurd, how obscene. Infatuation was a powerful motivator but the desire to protect others was a key part of how Kip Nguyen positioned himself in the world.

Another long second. Kip pulled out his communicator and typed into it. Lee’s own device pinged with a long string of numbers that did not match any in Eden.

He realized how much power he had over this young man. It was something he was unused to, but something that he wanted more of.

“Why--” Kip furrowed his brows, then looked back at his screen. “Why do you want to talk to Marty? I thought he didn’t like you.”

It was that obvious.

The truth was the best option in this situation. “I want to talk to him about the place he lives. I think they’ve accomplished the same thing we’re trying to do. They killed their oppressors, they made things fair for everyone who lives there. Can you imagine that? I want to know how they were able to do it so that I know we can do it. I just want to hear about a place that did it first.”

Kip was no longer jiggling his leg. He was spaced out, unfocused out of nowhere. Whenever he got this way, his expression turned flat and his eyes went glassy. Over the last few months, Lee had realized that Kip spaced out all the time, mostly when he felt stressed. He almost felt bad. 

Was he putting too much pressure on Kip? Despite knowing that he was using him, he liked him a lot. He liked how outrageously passionate and articulate Kip was and wished that he could have been the same way at 18. At 18, Lee had been dweeby and ineloquent, still held back by the grief of losing his mother and the horror of what he had endured during his incarceration. He did not want to ever take away Kip’s ‘spark’.

“You good?” he asked carefully. 

Kip shook himself. He clicked aimlessly on the keyboard. “Yeah. It’s just-- I don’t think Marty is very happy. You’d think that in a society where everything is fair, everyone would be happy.”

“It’s more important that everything is fair than for everyone to be happy.”

“Right. Yeah, I know. I mean, I know that. It’s stupid, I don’t know why I was thinking about that.” Kip deleted the strings of gibberish he had just typed, then turned so that he could face Lee. He was smiling but everything else was off, like he was forcing himself to look normal. “Marty’s weird. If you bother him or something, Ayda’s probably going to come after me, so can you-- can you be cool when you talk to him? I really don’t want Ayda getting mad at me, Case will get mad if Ayda’s mad. You know? Please just be cool.”

Lee put a hand on Kip’s shoulder to reassure him and projected his will in his direction. You think everything is OK, he thought. You think everything is just fine. You don’t think that anything is wrong. Then he gave Kip a few pats. “When have I ever not been cool?” he asked.

######

He waited a few days before calling Marty. It was the week before he had a long paper due, and he had his deadline on an editorial in the student paper. Life had to come first. His life was busy, between classwork, his job, and his position in the UPLF. So many responsibilities. Lee just didn’t have the time to call anyone, he barely even had time to sleep at night. The loans he had taken out to cover his school bills, combined with the measly wages he earned from writing were hardly enough for survival. Every day was a struggle, and in that struggle he had little time to think about a foreign teenager who hated him.

On Sunday afternoon, he had a little time. Lee’s editor at the student paper had messaged him with the revisions they wanted and he just didn’t have it in him to open his word document and read over everything he had screwed up. They liked him there, they just didn’t like his work. He could make people like him, that was easy. Making people like his ideas, making people like his vision of a better future in Eden, that was harder. He thought about Marty and the place he lived. He thought about Marty’s better future.

That was real. He could talk to someone who had lived through a revolution, who had entered a socialist society, and figure out what worked. He could write about what worked.

Certainly it would be easier than coming up with ideas on his own.

Lee reclined on his couch. It was the only real furniture in his studio apartment, apart from his bed. He often slept there. It was one of those rare occasions that he had not gotten dressed for the day, since he had not gone out anywhere he only wore a pair of thin sweatpants and a meat-packer’s union T shirt. He had not groomed his hair nor his beard and was wearing his old glasses. It did not make him feel good about himself. When he did not dress up and take care of himself, it reminded him that he was mediocre-- average frame, crooked teeth, mousy brown hair, brown eyes. Nothing special. 

When there was nobody around to see him or talk to him, when he was alone, he was reminded of his mediocrity. The emptiness of it.

He pulled out his communication device and opened up the message where Kip had sent him Marty’s strange number. Again, he wondered how someone from the outside was in contact with Eden. Who else knew about this? What kind of trouble would West Agapama be in if the government caught wind of his daughters collaborating with outsiders? It was likely that Marty was only in contact with them due to Agapama’s alleged smuggling activities. While he shipped items from Eden to the Colonies of Serenity and Green River, it had always been rumored that his trucks ended up elsewhere.

Lee lingered on that number. He pressed it.

His screen flashed white a few times as his device connected to one that was hundreds of miles away. 

Marty answered after only a few rings. Wherever he was, he was outside, because Lee could see blue sky and the blackness of the Rift. He could see trees, real trees, growing in the wild. Marty’s fluffy black  hair was covered by a knit hat and he had a scarf pulled up to his nose. His cheeks were pink, perhaps affected by the cold air. When he saw who had called him, his black eyes went so wide that Lee could see the reflection of the kid’s communication device in them. “Ah, merde!” exclaimed Marty in a high pitch of surprise. “Comment as-tu--”

“Est-ce que ca-va, Mari?” A harsh female voice from off camera. Marty spluttered something in response and retreated a few steps, looking over his shoulder as he went. He got his back up against a tree and then glared daggers into his camera.

“Hi,” Lee said mildly, distracted by the landscape and Marty’s strange clothes. He had never been cold before, not really. He tried to imagine it. The temperature in Eden was regulated carefully to keep everyone comfortable.

Marty pulled the scarf away from his lower face with a quick, aggressive motion. “How the fuck did you get this number?” he demanded. “What made you think it’s a good idea to call me? Oh my god, you are a freak. I’m telling Ayda that you called me, you fucking psychopath, what is wrong with you?”

It was amazing that someone could switch between languages like that. Marty’s voice even changed when he spoke his own language, he lowered it when he spoke English. Lee smiled at him and tried to project his will, although he knew it would be hopeless on the other side of a screen. You want to talk to me, you want to talk to me, he thought.

Marty’s expression turned to disgust. “You’re staring at me,” he said. “I’m hanging up and then I’m going to figure out what I’m gonna do to you.”

“Wait, wait wait wait,” Lee laughed. “I just want to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Just talk to me. Five minutes. What’s five minutes?”

“I don’t want to talk to you. Who gave you my number?”

“Kip.”

For a second, Marty’s face fell, his eyes darted to the side and he sniffed. Then he looked back at Lee and sneered. All of it was posturing, him trying to act big when he was just a little kid. Lee was familiar with the need to make oneself something that you are not. “Kip, huh?” said Marty. He exhaled through his mouth and his breath fogged. “Kip. Right, Kip is in love with you, of course he would do something shitty to me if he thought it would get him on your dick. Fuck you, and fuck him too.”

“Wow. Sort of inappropriate, don’t you think?”

Marty pulled his scarf back up over the lower half of his face, probably to mask his expression more than because of the cold. Small white specks were falling around him, landing on his hat and getting stuck on his eyelashes. “Inappropriate? Like you care. Inappropriate is you calling me when there’s nobody else around. Why is that, huh? You’re scared I’m going to tell Ayda’s dad you’ve been giving her alcohol? You know what he’s gonna do to you? He’ll peel off all your skin and break your teeth with a hammer and castrate you before killing you. You’re trying to manipulate me. You can’t trick me, you think you’re so smart but you can’t fool me.”

Teenagers were so stupid. They all thought that they had the world figured out but their brains weren’t even finished developing. Lee kept his face pleasant. “I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I just want to talk to you about your life. I promise I’m not manipulating anyone, all your friends like me, I don’t know why you don’t. Can I just ask you a few questions?” He noted that they had already been speaking far longer than five minutes. 

“‘On the wrong foot’, I don’t even know what that means,” replied Marty. He paused, thinking, and blinked away some of the white flakes that were falling on him. Snow? “I know for a fact that not everyone likes you. I’m not talking to you, I’m not telling you anything about my life because that’s weird. You’re weird, this is over, don’t call me again because I am blocking you, you creep.”

“Aw, come on, I just--”

The screen went black.

He had to laugh. 

###

He had promised to buy Kip and his friends liquor and came through. Lee did not enjoy drinking much. At this point in his life, the novelty had worn off, and he found that drinking excessively dulled his senses too much for his taste. But teenagers were in to that kind of thing, and he knew that it would further endear himself to Kip, so he had complied.

About two hours into the night, Lee started to wonder if he had made a really terrible mistake. 

They were all drunk. Well, except for Kip’s little sister, who didn’t touch the stuff. They were all drunk and the dawning realization of exactly how much trouble he was going to be in if anyone found out was starting to make Lee scared.

He watched as Ayda, Esther, and Rosaline sat sprawled in front of the television, clumsily playing a video game. They giggled as they repeatedly drove a virtual cart off the side of a brightly colored bridge, not seeming to care or realize that they were doing the same thing over and over again. Casey and Kassidy were sharing the same chair, Casey with her long legs twisted over Kassidy’s as she braided her hair. Casey’s eyes were half closed. Kip sat next to Lee on the couch, jabbering idiotically about something that Lee was not really paying attention to. The younger kids were off by themselves, he really wasn’t sure.

And Marty.

Marty’s little blue hologram face was visible on Ayda’s communication device. Every now and then, he would glance over at Lee and give him a poisonous glare.

It could be worse, Lee thought to himself, as he held on to his own barely touched drink for dear life. It could be worse. Nothing bad had happened, and most of them were well behaved, Still, he couldn’t help but think about how West Agapama would skin him alive and smash his face in with a hammer if he found out that his girls were getting drunk in the presence of a grown man, He wasn’t going to find out though. There was no way he could find out.

Well. There was one way. Lee looked over at Marty and their eyes met. Marty widened his eyes threateningly.

“That’s why it’s not fair,” he heard Kip say loudly. “It’s not fair. I don’t want to take all these stupid elective courses, just to graduate. Why are-- why are they making me do that? Just to graduate? When, when am I ever gonna have to know about bio-electrical engineering, huh? Did you have to do that, Lee? These stupid classes, did you have to take them?” He was slurring badly and his face was sweaty, his buggy eyes were completely unfocused. Alcohol interacted badly with his medication. Kip sat very close to Lee, pressing his knee against the side of his leg. “Did you?”

Lee quickly moved his leg away from Kip. “I don’t know,” he said.

Kip looked like he was about to lean his head against his shoulder. Under other circumstances, he might have let him, but with all of Kip’s friends around, the risk of one of them thinking poorly of him due to Kip’s intoxication was too great. Lee got off the couch and stood up, thinking about how sweaty and uncharacteristically nervous he was. This was different from a couple beers. If one of them got sick or hurt, he was going to be in serious trouble.

The apartment was trashed, with soda bottles and food all over the floor. At some point, Casey had shriekingly spilled her drink on the carpet, leaving a stain. It was only 8pm. Kip had said that his mother would be at work until late the next day, but Lee kept imagining Dana Nguyen walking in to all this. He paced around.

On the floor, Ayda put down her controller, then pulled herself up. Beside her, Esther and Rosaline had started to kiss, but Lee didn’t let his eyes linger on them for too long. God knew that he did not want to see a couple of horny teenagers drunkenly make out, he didn’t want to be responsible for that. Ayda wobbled on her feet for a second like she was going to fall.

“Can you make me another drink?” she asked. Her long dark hair was in tangles and her eyes were unfocused as Kip’s.

Lee tried to make his face appear calm and not anxious, thinking about how badly he had fucked up. What was he doing with his life? This wasn’t worth it. “How about some water?”

“I want another drink,” Ayda whined.

Marty’s big black eyes were fixated on Lee. “What do you think would happen if I called Ayda’s dad right now?” he asked, in his round little accent. 

“Ha ha,” said Lee, humourlessly, imagining his own death.

“It feels like you’re about to try and molest someone. I just want you to know that I know Ayda’s dad’s number. So you don’t, you know, try to molest someone.”

“That’s a really dark thing for someone your age to be thinking about.”

“Ugh, Marty, gross,” said Ayda.

Over on the chair, Kassidy yelped as Casey sleepily pulled her hair a little too hard to tie off one braid. It made Lee flinch. He saw Esther and Rosaline get up and head towards Kassidy’s bedroom, giggling and still tangled up with one another. Best not to think about it. Lee became determined to regain control of the situation.

He looked at Ayda and put a hand on her shoulder in what he thought was an authoritative way. The action made Marty’s fluffy hair stick up. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll make you another drink if you go hang out with Kip. And give me your communicator so I can talk to Marty.”

“No. No, no, no!” said Marty, as Ayda complied and handed her device over. “Ayda, you stupid bitch!” But it was too late, she was not listening to him and had already flopped on the couch next to Kip, who seemed happy enough to have a new victim to talk at.

Lee took off his glasses and wiped the smudges on his shirt. He wanted Marty to be able to see his whole face and tell that he was being sincere. The kid seemed bad at reading expressions. Some people just couldn’t do it. He held up the device that connected Marty from his part of the world, so far away. Marty glared at him, but didn’t switch off his camera. Of course he didn’t-- he did not want to risk being separated from his friends. It was a profoundly lonely existence and Lee knew that he could exploit that.

“So,” he said, walking across the living room and to the Nguyens’ small kitchen. He lowered his voice even though he didn’t need to; nobody was paying attention to him. “I’m the first to admit that I made an accidental mistake.”

“That’s funny,” said Marty. “Because I feel like buying liquor and bringing it to Kip’s apartment is hard to do by accident.”

“It’s actually very normal for teenagers to party like this,” Lee kept his tone formal and educational so that Marty could not tell that he was scared. “It’s actually good that I’m here so that if something bad happens, I can do something about it.”

“You’re stupid on top of being a pervert. Give Ayda’s comm back to her.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Casey slump over on Kassidy, falling asleep. For all her big talk, it seemed as though she was a lightweight. Kassidy, whose hair was only half braided, appeared uncomfortable and awkward, but she didn’t try to move away. Lee made sure that the camera was facing away so that Marty could not see Casey passing out.

He looked at Marty. “I just want to make sure you’re not going to do something you regret later.”

“I could say the same thing to you.”

Lee gritted his teeth.

“Normal people don’t try to get teenagers drunk.”

On the couch, Kip said something that made Ayda laugh loudly, and her high state of emotion filled the apartment. An ease, or a lightness passed through Lee’s body. Even at his best, his psychic abilities would never match Ayda’s, he would never be able to affect people the way that she could. He shook off the warm, euphoric feeling that attached to him, wanting to stay clear headed.

He wanted to vape to calm his nerves, but knew that would enrage Marty further. “I’m actually only 22 so--”

“Ew.”

“Look, I’m just trying to reassure you that I have no bad intentions. I’m Kip’s friend, that’s it, it’s nothing more than that. I want to support him, he’s been through a lot.”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“What do you want, you want me to promise that I would never do anything to hurt Kip? I’ll promise you, if you promise that you aren’t going to tell anyone’s parents. Do you know how mad they’ll all be at you if you did that? Everyone would stop talking to you.”

Judging from the expression of anger blooming on Marty’s face, he had struck a nerve. Hurt. Reality. But before Marty could make his undoubtedly biting retort, their conversation was interrupted. Eddie Bellamy approached from behind Lee and touched his elbow, startling him.

“Oh! What--” Lee spun around to face him, almost dropping the communication device in the process. He fumbled to keep his grip on it. Embarrassed to have been surprised so easily, Lee struggled to keep smiling, and pulled his glasses back on. “What? What do you want?” In his slightly tipsy, frightened state, he found it more difficult to stay pleasant around Artificials, and his discomfort around them was harder to hide.

“Uh…” Eddie’s pale face was flushed and he was wobbly on his feet. Lee’s heart rate skyrocketed as his body sensed an imminent disaster before his mind did. “I think Rome needs help. He’s throwing up.”

Lee’s fingers tightened around the communication device as terror flooded him. Forget taking a hammer to the face. Richard Prospas would string him up on a meat hook if anything happened to his kid. Terrible stories about the violence that company had perpetrated came swirling back to him. This was it. This was the bad thing that he knew was going to happen. It was his fault for assuming that if the younger kids sequestered themselves off out of sight, they wouldn’t be able to get in trouble.

“Oh, fuck you, Harlan.” Marty sounded scared and angry, presumably worried about his little crush. “Fuck you.”

Eddie’s lizard eyes shifted down towards the floor and he wobbled again. Lee reached out to hold onto his shoulder, suddenly worried that he would fall. “Yeah. He’s kinda freaking out, I think he had too much to drink.”

“I don’t think I gave you guys anything to drink,” Lee said through his gritted teeth. “You wanna tell me about that?”

“Uh…” Eddie blinked stupidly and Lee had to resist the urge to shake him. Usually Esther and her siblings acted like they were so superior than he was, so now, seeing one of them act so weak and stupid, Lee had to bite down his instinct to lash out. “Yeah. Rome brought some stuff from home, we didn’t want to be left out. I mean, we didn’t drink a lot, I think, we just-- can you go check on him? We don’t know what to do.”

The last thing that Lee wanted to do was go deal with a vomiting 14 year old, but there was no other option. This was what he had been scared of. He had told Marty that he was a responsible adult, and now he had to act like one. How hard could it be to make sure that some kid didn’t have alcohol poisoning and then bully him into not snitching?

This was his own fault. He had put himself in this situation where he had to act as a responsible adult, so he had to follow it through.

His voice seemed to come from outside of himself. “OK,” he said, very calmly. “I’m glad you came and got me. Why don’t you go hang out with your sister in Commissioner Nguyen’s room for now?”

“Eddie,” Marty said angrily. “Don’t leave Rome alone with this freak. I mean it, I don’t understand why you don’t believe me when I tell you that he hates you guys. He hates you. He hates Artificials. Don’t leave Rome alone with this guy.”

Eddie looked from Marty to Lee. Lee smiled at him tightly and patted him on the shoulder. You trust me, he thought. You trust me, you trust me. “Uh…” Eddie said, wavering.

“Oh my god,” exclaimed Marty. “You’re all so fucking stupid. Eddie, do not--”

It was too easy for Lee to turn off Ayda’s communicator and banish Marty from the apartment, leaving him in his isolated far-away land. Easy as anything. If the kid wasn’t so irritating, it would almost be sad. At any rate, Esther’s little brother was not about to cause any problem, a combination of childish pliability and Lee’s psychic suggestions saw to that. He watched him wobble off to Commissioner Nguyen’s bedroom to be with his sister, just as had been suggested. Easy. Easy as anything.

The communicator went down on the kitchen table. No doubt Marty would be frantically calling Kip, and if that did not work, Kassidy. He would not have any luck with either though. Lee sighed, pushed his hair out of his face, then went to the bathroom to see exactly what was going on.

#####

The next call came a week or so later. Lee had been expecting to talk to Marty again, he just hadn’t expected that Marty would be the one to call him. That was the kind of thing you couldn’t plan for. He looked at the light flashing on his slim metal communication device for a moment, then answered it, unable to hide the surprise on his face.

“What’s up?” he asked, like he was talking to a friend, instead of to a little kid who hated his guts.

Marty’s face was pink and angry. His eyebrows were so furrowed that his eyes had become black slits. Wherever he was, he was inside, perhaps in his bedroom. It was difficult to make note of his surroundings, since he had his face so close to his camera that his blackheads were visible. “You’re gonna leave Rome alone from now on,” he said, in what was probably the meanest voice he could muster, but his pubescent voice kept cracking humorously. “And I know you’re not gonna listen to me, but if you freak him out one more time, I’m going to call Ayda’s dad.”

Again with the empty threats. Marty was never going to call Ayda’s dad. He kept saying that he would, but had still not ante’d up. If he did that, if he followed through, he would lose all his friends. Loneliness was a stronger motivator than anger. Loneliness was even stronger than fear.

It was still early evening. Comfortable on his shitty couch, Lee was back in his sweatpants and a t- shirt. “What are you talking about?” he asked, laughing, but he knew what Marty was talking about. 

“Don’t play stupid. Rome told me that you were bothering him when he was sick the other night, and that you called social services on his family. Why would you do that? You know that social worker pulled him out of class, asked him a ton of questions, then called his dad? Why would you do that? Are you stupid? What’s even wrong with you that would make you do that?”

The amount of care that Marty had for his friends, for people that he would never meet in person, was almost touching. Lee pushed his own hair back so that he would not appear so scruffy. He hated to think that someone would see him not looking his best, but there wasn’t anything for it now. “Right. I’m sure that in whatever backwards place you’re from, they never taught you about mandated reporting--”

“--I I know what that is--”

“-- but since I’m an adult, it’s actually my responsibility to report it to the proper authorities if I believe that a child is in danger. You understand that, right? You understand that I’m just trying to help.”

“Oh, tu essaies d'aider.” Marty’s face grew more pink as he got so angry he forgot how to speak in English. “Don’t mess with my head. You know what you did.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, then.” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, a habitual gesture he hated because it made him appear dweeby, but was unable to break.

“Tell me that you’re going to leave everybody alone, even if you won’t leave Kip alone. You don’t understand what you did.”

Oh, Lee understood, and that’s why he had contacted social services in the first place. He took a hit off his vape pen, because he knew that irritated Marty, and felt the nicotine simultaneously calm and invigorate his body. “I think it’s interesting that you were calling me names for just being in the same room as your little friends, and now when I’ve been a responsible adult who has reached out to other adults because I’m worried about, oh, I don’t know, about how it looks like a kid is getting beaten at home, you’re still not happy. How am I the bad guy? What’s your problem with me? All I ever do is try to help people.”

“I understand what Rome’s going through. You don’t.” He said it so defensively that it took Lee by surprise. All this time, he had assumed that Marty had a crush on his quiet friend. He had not imagined that instead, Marty might relate to him. He had not imagined that someone as hostile and outspoken as Marty might see a piece of himself in passive, nervous Rome Prospas.

That was a piece of information that Marty should not have revealed. So much of his strange life in a far away Colony in the North was obscured by his hostility, but Lee’s curiosity about it could not be sated. It seemed that even under a socialist revolution, the lives of normal people could still be painful. Children there still had lives where they were not safe at home. It was something that could not be fixed by grand ideas. He exhaled a cloud of vapor. “Do you have parents?”

It looked like Marty regretted revealing so much of himself, even if it had been meant as a hateful jab. Much of the pink drained from his face. “I’m not telling you that.”

“You’re right. I don’t know anything about having a family that doesn’t treat me right,” Lee continued. Maybe if he opened up about his own life, he could gain a little trust. Even at this point, it was possible to do that. “I never had a dad. My mom killed herself when she got sent to prison. I was 12. She wasn’t the best mom, but I was still sad when she died. She loved me a lot.  I miss her a lot. What about you?”

A flash of connection. For a second, Marty stopped scowling and his eyes were once again large and black. 

In that moment, Lee could see that they were the same.

He continued, as carefully as he could, looking for cues. “She got pregnant with me when she was really young. Sometimes she didn’t know how to take care of me. I’d go to school in dirty clothes and stuff, that’s when social services got involved. They helped Mom learn how to take care of me better.”

Marty was still staring at him and it looked like the wheels of memory were turning in his head. Lee had him, he had found a weak spot, the soft underbelly.

“I remember the day they took me away from her, though, right before they took her to jail. I think about that every day.” He had not expected himself to be replaying the most traumatic moment of his life for the sake of connecting with this surly preteen, but there he was. His mother had refused to let go of him, he had been so scared. That one moment of fear and unfairness had propelled Lee Harlan through the next decade, and he had held on to that memory through every terrible thing that had happened to him since.

“I--” Marty opened his mouth like he wanted to respond, then seemed to remember exactly who he was talking to.

Gently, prying, Lee tried again. “You look like you want to talk about your mom.”

The small, fleeting moment of connection ended. Blood rose to the high points in Marty’s face again. “No. Don’t try to distract me. I don’t care about you, I don’t care about your life.  I called you to tell you that if you even breathe in Rome’s direction one more time, I’m not even kidding, I’m contacting Ayda’s dad. You know, like a mandated reporter, or whatever you called it. He will kill you. You can keep perving on Kip all you want, I don’t really care, but if you mess with anyone else, I’m gonna get you. You’re gonna get what you deserve.”

“Not if I get you first,” Lee said blandly. “What do you deserve?”

The screen of his communication device went white. Marty was gone, disconnected. All his bravado, his childish little threats, for nothing. Lee was not scared of him. If he was truly going to do something, if he truly had it in him to call West Agapama, he would have done it already. Deep down, Marty did not want to do it.

Whatever it was, fear or some sense of connection, or perhaps obsession, would not allow him to do anything.

And Lee knew that he could use that to his advantage.

[ashiversary]

One, Two, Three: Stuck As Second Best

Candela knows Blanche well enough to understand that Noire always comes first. Every time, in an instant, without question. So it’s no surprise that Noire is chosen as Mystic II.

So why does it still hurt so much?

@spiritedandloyal says: Happy 4th Ashiversary!!!! Have a MysticIII!Candela AU <3

AU Overview: Lucifel Bonded with Moltres, Carl never had his accident or a falling out with Spark, Noire and Blanche reconciled in their late teens, and both Noire and Candela are on Team Mystic. Click here to read on A03.

“Candela, if I offered you the position of Mystic III, would you accept it?”

The words rang in Candela’s ears, and not in a good way.

Three. Mystic Three. As-in-not-their-first-choice, as in not-their-second-in-command, as in your effort wasn’t enough, you’re not loyal enough, not trustworthy enough, not enough, never enough-

“Oh. I suppose you chose Noire as your assistant?” She asked dumbly, knowing that it wasn’t an answer and already knowing what Blanche will say.

“Yes.” Blanche gave her one of those little side glances, expression difficult to read even for Candela. “…I know the two of you don’t often see eye to eye, but-”

“No, no, darling, makes sense.” Candela cut off whatever Blanche is going to say. She didn’t want to hear them justify all the reasons why they had chosen their twin over her. She didn’t know why she held out hope that maybe she could stack up against her significant other’s other half. She should have known better from the start. Stupid of her to try.

For a moment, she thought maybe her bitterness had sunk into her tone, because Blanche’s brows furrowed. But then they paused, wavered. Uncertain.

“Do you require time to think before-”

“No!” Candela jumped in, somewhere between mortified and grateful. “Yes, my dear, I’ll accept the position. Thank you for choosing me.”

Before Candela could dig into herself for nearly making Blanche think that she didn’t want to be as close to their side as possible, Blanche smiled. It was faint, just a curve of the lips with the corners twitching up, but it made Candela’s heart flutter.

She would do anything to keep that smile around. Even if it meant… well, everything Candela’s been through so far.

And so Candela kept her face pleasant as the elevator approached their destination, even though Blanche had just slapped her across the face with a reminder that you will never be someone’s first choice. She felt like crying, really- like screaming and sobbing and hitting things, but she didn’t let that show.

Blanche took her hand and squeezed it, their PDA-shy equivalent of a kiss goodbye, and Candela was grateful because she wasn’t quite sure she would appreciate being kissed just then. Blanche left for a meeting on the second floor, and Candela punched in the number for the gym.

Knock knock, knock. 

“Candela?”

Blanche’s voice was quiet and strained. Tired, maybe.

“What do you want, Blanche?”

Candela’s response was definitely harsh. She’d been stewing in her anger all evening, and it was the kind that ran too deep to be set free with a few punching bags.

There was a pause before Blanche asked “Are you going to come to bed tonight?”

Oh. Right. Tonight was her turn to be Blanche’s personal heater. Because unlike most significant others, she had to share with Blanche’s twin.

“When’s the last time you actually had to come find me, instead of the other way around?”

A shorter pause this time. “You’re upset with me?”

“Maybe.” She snipped.

“C’mon, Candy, don’t be passive aggressive about this, it’s not-”

The last of Candela’s restraint snapped at hearing Noire’s voice. She grabbed the nearest object and threw it.

“STAY THE FUCK OUT OF THIS, NOIRE!”

The decorative throw pillow thunked against the door with enough force to make the nearby artwork rattle against the wall. There was a pause, during which she was sure the twins were whispering to one another, and then one set of feet padded off down the hall.

“Noire has left.” Blanche announced. Candela didn’t respond. “Candela, open the door, please.”

Candela didn’t move.

“Candela, don’t make me override the lock, please. I don’t wish to have to do that.”

Candela sighed.

“Go be with your precious twin, lovely. I’ll be fine.”

“You are,” Blanche hesitated, just for a second. “Precious to me as well. Please let me in so we can discuss this properly.”

Candela was quiet for a moment, emotions swirling inside her like one of Articuno’s storms of legend- chaotic and disorienting, cold and burning all at once. She didn’t want to. But she never could say no to Blanche.

She stood up and crossed to open the door.

Blanche’s breath left them in a little gasp when Candela opened the door, like they’ve been hit in the gut. Candela realized she must look terrible; puffy and red-eyed, smeared make-up, bloodied knuckles and rumpled gym clothes.

She couldn’t find it in herself to care.

Blanche murmured a thanks as they entered and shut the door softly behind them. They didn’t reach for her, nor say anything. They just watched, gaze calculating as always.

“Yes.” Candela said finally.

“Yes..?”

“Yes! I’m upset with you!” Blanche’s face dropped. “And you’re not the only fucking one!”

“With Noire too?”

“No, darling, I’m perfectly fucking peachy with them. Everything is fantastic.”

Blanche was quiet for a second.

“Did you want to be my assistant?”

Candela stared at her, mouth agape.

“Wait, wait- are you serious?” She asked. “Really, darling? Was that not obvious?”

“Not precisely.”

[The worst part, Candela realized, was that they were being honest.]

“I’ve spent the last month working my ass off to try and impress you! I did all those reports! Took extra notes in meetings! Reminded you of events and brought you food! I beat Instinct II’s ranking!”

Now it was Blanche’s turn to be stricken speechless. Candela realized that she is shaking, not with fury or sorrow, but with something that blended both into one and the same.

That feeling, she realized, is heartbreak.

“I know you’re not the greatest with reading people, Blanche, but- how in Arceus’ name did you miss that?”

“I didn’t miss it.” Blanche retorted. “I just assumed that it was your typical ambition fueling you. I didn’t… you didn’t tell me you were vying for the assistant’s position.”

Candela fumed. “Did Noire tell you they wanted to be your assistant?!”

Blanche had the decency to look slightly abashed. “…No.”

“Exactly!” To Candela’s mortification, she realized hot tears were already spilling out of her eyes. “And that’s just it! It always is!”

“That I chose my twin over you?” Blanche asked, a hint of a snarl in their voice.

“That everyone chooses somebody else over me!” Candela snapped, whirling around. The crack in her voice, the weakness, horrified her. “I am NEVER somebody’s first priority!”

“Candela-”

“Four older brothers! You think I was ever anything but the leftover? The fifth wheel? And I’ve never escaped it! Ever!” Her voice cracked on a sob. “And then I had to go and fall in love with the one person who I would throw everything away for and they would still always have someone more important!”

“Candela…”

“Everyone in my life has someone more important. Everyone. You have Noire, Carl has Spark, and my family disowned me. And it’s not fair.”

“Life has never been fair.” Blanche murmured from behind her. They seemed calm, if Candela ignored the frost spreading across the nearest windows.

“No, Blanche, I mean that it’s not fair of me to blame that on everyone else.” Candela said, and the worst of the anger suddenly drained out of her, taking her strength with it. She slumped to the floor, drawing her knees to her chest and pressing the heel of her palms into her eyes like it would block the flow of tears.

Blanche hesitated before speaking, and Candela pressed on. “I’m not dumb, Blanche. I’m the common variable.”

“Oh.” Blanche sat on the floor next to her. “This is an issue of self-worth.”

“No shit.”

A silence hung over them.

“You were Professor Willow’s first assistant to be chosen.”

“Yeah, yeah, and then you beat me at every test.”

“And you beat me repeatedly in battle despite disadvantageous type match-ups. That is not what we’re talking about. Willow did choose you first and you know he didn’t make that choice lightly.”

“That was just one-”

“And once sets a precedent.” Blanche insisted, reaching forwards to brush Candela’s bangs out of her face. Their fingers were icy cold and Candela flinched automatically. Their hand left and she wished she could call it back, but she felt tired and heavy and weak.

“Darling, would it have even changed anything?” She asked. “If you knew I wanted to be your assistant, before?”

Blanche was quiet for a minute. Stock-still, but in the way a frozen river was: all the turbulence of intense thought kept beneath a shell of serenity, with no way to tell if the ice was thick or thin. Candela watched their eyes, the way they flickered and glanced over her, the minute micro-expressions that didn’t reach the rest of their face. She was searching for something in those troubled green irises. She didn’t know what she was looking for.

Blanche sighed.

“I will not lie to you and pretend that you could ever eclipse Noire in the scope of my general priorities.” Blanche murmured. “But Noire is… a part of me. An extension, like a limb. Like Articuno is. I am not complete without them.”

“I’m going to kick your ass all the way back to your therapist if you keep talking like that.” Candela threatened, but there was little heat behind it. Resignation had replaced rage a while back; after everything Blanche had endured, no one expected them to be fully independent.

“My point is,” Blanche continued, “That after Noire, you are my first priority. My best friend, my romantic partner, my ally in battle. To count Noire against your importance would be like counting Articuno.”

“Don’t.” Candela sighed. “Don’t try and make it out like Noire doesn’t count. I will always come in third to your bond and your twin. That’s… I knew what I was getting into with this. Don’t pretend you should change for me. I wouldn’t want you to if you could.”

“Wouldn’t you?” Blanche asked.

“I would, and it would be selfish, and I would regret it forever!” Candela snapped. “Trust me, dear, I’ve spent enough nights awake thinking about it.”

A cool hand rested on Candela’s knee. She wanted to put her own atop of it, but her own hands were gross with tears and snot and split knuckles from hitting punching bags too hard, and Blanche deserved better than that, so she didn’t.

[She was so sick of not being good enough.]

“Let me re-frame what I was going to say.” Blanche said after a long silence. “Just because you are not my first priority does not mean that you are not critically important to me.”

Maybe it was just her imagination, but Candela swore that the frost-burnt symbol over her collarbone grew colder with the words spoken, a reminder of the crest of Articuno branded on her skin.

“It is no secret that if something were to happen to me, Noire would not make for a good leader. Not even for a short duration of time if I were, say, injured.”

“They’d be out for blood, you mean.” Candela snorted.

“And then presumably glued to my bedside, yes.” Blanche agreed. “Which is why I need you.”

Candela paused at that. Blanche didn’t elaborate.

“You’ve lost me, darling.”

Blanche sighed. “I am… not proficient in heart-to-heart conversations.”

“I know that, babe. But I was following up until then.”

Blanche groaned. They took a long minute to find their words.

“If something serious should happen to either Noire or myself, the other will not be in a state fit to handle Team Mystic. That is the responsibility I am entrusting to you as Mystic III.”

“…I think I get it.” Candela said finally.

“Do you?” Blanche said. Their freezing cold hands grasped Candela’s jaw and lifted her head to face them. Blanche’s eyes held a startling intensity normally reserved for battle, but they were as green as the sea. No hint of Articuno’s icy will- just Blanche. Always Blanche.

“Team Mystic is my greatest responsibility. It is my life’s work. It is lives, people and Pokémon alike, balanced on my shoulders. Its upkeep and prestige are of utmost importance. The team’s well-being is crucial to the balance of this city and of this region. And when something happens to me, which I have no doubt it will one day, I am entrusting it to you. Not to Noire. Not to anybody else. You. And Articuno agrees with me. This is what I meant by making you Mystic III. You are not a backup for Noire. You are your own person, and I love you for that.”

It wasn’t what she wanted to hear. It wasn’t what she hoped for. It wasn’t quite enough to heal her aching heart. But at the same time, it was so much more than she dared to dream of. Maybe more than she deserved. And it’s honest and true, and it came from Blanche.

She lunged forwards and their lips met, sudden and a bit messy. Blanche gasped into the kiss but returned it eagerly, still cradling Candela’s face in their hands. She could taste her own tears in the kiss, salty and sharp, but Blanche didn’t seem bothered by them. She could hardly find room to breathe but she couldn’t bring herself to pull away, grounding herself in the feeling of cool lips on hers, cold and yet still so animated and alive. Blanche, gorgeous Blanche, intelligent Blanche, witty, clever Blanche, proud, snarky, brilliant Blanche- she was theirs. Not their first priority, but theirs nonetheless.

“Je t’aime, ma feu bleue.” Blanche murmured as they broke the kiss. Their foreheads were pressed together. Blanche’s hands cupped her cheek and wiped away tears with their thumbs, Candela’s own hands tangled in their white locks. “Come sleep with me?”

Part of Candela wanted to say no, that she needed time and space to process this. But she doesn’t. She’d already given up so much just to be with Blanche: her family, her old team, her pride. It would be ungrateful to waste a second of it, she thought- “I don’t know, darling.” She offered them a smirk. “I think maybe I deserve a hot shower first~”

-and Blanche’s mischievous smile reminded her why it was all worth it to be in second place.

[boethiah]

oc facts with iliah ra’athim!

tagged by: @trinimac​​

tagging: @theoldsongsandtales​ @profanetools​ @ayrenn​ @violyd​ @tonal-modulator​

PLACE IN SOCIETY

✖ FINANCIAL

– wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty

she’s a ra’athim. even if she’s estranged from her family, her father’s untimely death and sister’s exile means that she inherited a veritable fortune

✖ MEDICAL

– fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged

as a Hand of Almalexia, she’s an absolute tank of a woman and god would have a hard time killing her 

✖ CLASS OR CASTE

– upper / lower / middle / working / unsure

ra’athim and temple elite. 

✖ EDUCATION

– qualified / unqualified / studying

FAMILY

✖ MARITAL STATUS – married, happily / married, unhappily / engaged  / partnered / divorced / widow or widower / separated / single / it’s complicated

whats the point of being a Hand of Almalexia if you’re not habouring intense, unrequired, homosexual feeling for your patron deity? 

✖ CHILDREN – has children / no children / wants children / adopted children

she’s very much a lesbian (she did help raise her sisters daughter for a while, but that was in more of a ‘fun aunt’ capacity)

✖ FAMILY – close with sibling / not close with siblings / has no siblings / siblings are deceased / it’s complicated

though she later reconciles with her identical twin after the latter recants her worm cultist ties and returns to mournhold, there is a lot of messy feelings there, a lot of resentment that neither is every fully able to overcome

✖ AFFILIATION – orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by both parents / it’s complicated

well technically she was raised by her father but he died during the akaviri war, when she was just 20. also he was a shit father so does it really count

TRAITS & TENDENCIES  

✖ disorganized / organised / in between

✖ close-minded / open-minded / in between

she’s a staunch supporter of the ebonheart pact, which makes her open-minded to many dunmer, but outside of that she tends not to change her mind or considner new viewpoints easily 

✖ cautious / reckless / in between

✖ patient / impatient / in between

✖ outspoken / reserved / in between

✖ leader / follower / in between.

✖ sympathetic / unsympathetic / in between

✖ optimistic / pessimistic / in between

✖ hardworking / lazy / in between

✖ cultured / uncultured / in between

✖ loyal / disloyal / in between

✖ faithful / unfaithful / in between

SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION

✖ SEXUALITY – heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual / omnisexual / demisexual

✖ SEX – sex repulsed / sex neutral /sex favorable

the unrequired homosexual infatuation with her patron deity has somewhat limited her sex-life, but she did enjoy a brief and stormy affair with a false incarnate once 

✖ ROMANCE – romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable

her faith is strongly bound to her perception of romance. it’s an expression of love for her  

✖ SEXUALLY – sexually adventurous / sex experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious / uninterested

again, the unrequited infatuation with--

ABILITIES

✖ COMBAT SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

hand of almalexia

✖ LITERACY SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

she has a reputation for being an idiot/jock but is actually a talented writer .

✖ ARTISTIC SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

she coulnd’t draw a stick figure

✖ TECHNICAL SKILLS – excellent / good/ moderate/ poor / none

mostly from... never having the need to learn them. dumb ass rich kid syndrome 

[kirj-of-perversion]

Billy Again (Part 1)

His whole life, Four has brought death and bad luck wherever he went. Now that he is no longer alive maybe his luck will change, especially surrounded by people who love him as much as he does them.

Or a story about Four’s  Many names

A/n: This is for @billytheskywalker​‘s awesome quote challenge! The quote I chose is “Here we are, born to be kings. We are princes of the universe.” Hope you guys like it, the formatting may be a bit weird, you can also read it on ao3 here

Word count: 5.4k

1. Billy

Four and Five were sitting on top of a roof.

That almost sounds like the start of a nursery rhyme, doesn’t it? The setting was right too, everything feels soft and fragile at sunrise. The sun looked almost shy as it peaked from under the earth, a faded red, the sky was pink and five was bathed in golden light.

They were sitting close but not touching, and there, in the cold morning air, Four could almost feel the heat radiating off of her skin. She was so close; if he shifted just the slightest bit he’d be able to press the line of his thigh against hers.

“-at’s why I got into medical school.”* He was only half-listening as she told him about her life before the whole fake death thing, they'd been trading stories for half an hour. He hated it, talking about his life before felt like playing with fire. But he’d never been able to deny her anything, or any of the ghosts for that matter.

“What about you, Billy?” Billy, he still wondered why he told them that damned nickname, why not William, or Bill, even Will; he’d been called each of those at one point or another.

“What do you want to know?” He smiled at her, couldn't help himself, even though talking about himself almost physically hurt.

“What’s your earliest memory?”

He hummed, deep in his chest, wondering how much he should tell her.

“My earliest memory, yeah? I think it was falling off the roof of my childhood home.” She punched him on the shoulder, giggling (and wasn’t that a thought? Five, their badass doctor, giggling.)

“You’re totally lying.”

“I’m not, I swear! My mum was so mad I could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. But it didn’t matter to me, the next day I was back on that roof, I’ve been climbing for as long as I can remember.”

She laughed, throwing her head back and he almost felt guilty for lying to her.

But after so many lies, so much secrecy, there were things he couldn't help but keep to himself, no matter how much he loved them all.

His actual first memory was of his mother, being held in her arms as a storm thundered outside. Her usual scent of clean clothes and lavender all around him and her quiet whisperings swallowed up by the darkness around them. He remembered with startling clarity the pain of his black eye, feeling it pulsate, and the words of his drunkard father.

Useless. Good for nothing. Dumb.

And yet, the pain hadn’t been so bad there. Curled up in his bed with his mother as she consoled him, late at night after his father had fallen asleep.

“You’re gonna do great things, my little lamb. Oh, Billy, people like you, born with stars in their eyes are meant to be great kings or rulers. One day you’ll see, the whole world will know who you are.”

He had barely believed her, back then. Even less so, a few years later, on his ninth birthday, newly orphaned and watching the still-hot cinders of his childhood home.

At that moment, he knew, he was destined to misfortune.

2.William

At the age of nine, with no relatives to be found and no will left by his parents, Four was sent to foster care. He lasted two weeks in the system before running away from his foster “parents” and never looking back.

Those two weeks were hellish, as Four constantly switched hands and institutions. Surprisingly, nobody wanted the bruised little kid who had night terrors that woke him up screaming and shaking every single night. The state-mandated therapist he saw only twice asked what the nightmares were about and he told her they were about the house fire (they weren’t, all he saw in his sleep were his father’s fists).

And they all kept calling him that, William, like he was a pet they had named. Nobody asked, it was just William here, William there. William was this new boy, a boy alone in the world whom no one would ever truly care for. Just another child of the system. And yet. And yet, a tiny part in him was relieved, because his heart seized in his chest whenever he thought about being called Billy, like he was disrespecting his mum, who had had so much faith in him.

He knew he would never be able to accomplish whatever hopes she’d had for him.

Midway through the second week, he was sent to the Whites, an idyllic little family with a charming father, a smiling mother, a little girl two years younger than him and a dog. They were nice, too much so, telling him they wanted to welcome him into their family.

“Hello, William, it’s great to have you with us. I’m sure you’ll feel right at home.” Said Mrs. White, running a silk-soft hand through his hair.

For three days he waited for the other shoe to drop, for the charming Mr. White to drink a beer too many and hit him. But he never did, instead, Mr. White (“it’s Gerard, kiddo”) called him champ and big boy, and tossed around a ball with him in the backyard. It was unsettling.

Billy’s father had been a charming man too, everyone liked him. He smoked cigars and laughed like thunder and everyone loved him. (“Oh Billy, why don’t you like your dad? He’s so nice!”).

So as nice as Mr. White was, Four, didn’t trust him. In his experience fathers weren't nice, at least not to their children. Instead, he tottered behind Mrs. White (“It’s Veronica, honey, or mum if you prefer”) and little Elysia, enamored by their twin heads of dark curls.

Mrs. White was nice too, prettier than his own mother and just as charming as Mr. White. She’d kiss his forehead at night and tell him and Elysia stories. She was strict but fair, assigning the children chores and explaining to Four how important homework would be once they got him enrolled in school.

For a few days, Four harbored a tiny flicker of hope. Of course, the universe promptly crushed it.

On the fourth day (And how’s that for an unlucky number?) Four dropped a glass of milk and Mrs. White slapped him across the face, her long nails catching on his skin and drawing blood. Elysia stood in the corner, watching them with wide eyes and a trembling lip as her mother devolved into a screaming fit.

“How dare you?! How dare you disrespect my family and my home like this?! We didn’t have to take you in you idiot!” Four stayed silent, looking her in the eyes as fat tears rolled down his cheeks.

She sent him to his room without dinner but instead of falling asleep he grabbed a plastic bag and shoved in the little belongings the Whites had bought for him, still crying, but furrowing his brows in determination.

Fathers, he decided, were not the only bad people there were. Mothers could be evil too, anyone really. And if parents could be so wicked, then he didn’t need them.

Not anyone.

He climbed out of the window with practiced ease, after years and years of climbing all over his own home. He slipped away on silent feet, distantly hearing Mrs. White berate her own daughter and husband.

After that, it was the streets, and Four learned about hunger, he learned how it felt to think you were going to die, for the first time in his life. Sure, at first people were willing to spare a few quarters for the cute little kid sitting on the curb, but as he got dirtier and scragglier they started shooing him away and shooting him dirty looks.

He ate fast food as often as he could, washed his face in McDonald´s sinks and changed into the least dirty of his clothes as much as possible, but he was still miserable. He felt weak all the time and he was just so tired.

And then he learned to steal.

3.Bill

Here’s the thing, most people are good at at least a couple of things, some talent is just innate and if you hone it enough then things start to get intense. And Four? He was good at stealing. Then again, stealing was more of an effect brought on by his talent at climbing and running, at moving.

He’d discovered parkour at twelve and started seeing the world differently. Everything, everything as just a way of enhancing movement, of being faster of getting just the slightest bit closer to the sky. He started moving all around England sometimes learning a trick or two from older guys who were like him. Fast and feeling the urge to move and bend reality around him like a constant urge under their skin.

So Four was good.

And people began to take notice.

Four was fourteen years old (and surely, whatever god there is must have laughed themself silly at the recurring number), and sitting on a roof, letting his feet dangle, eating a warm bagel when he heard footsteps behind him. Immediately he jumped to his feet, turning around and wiping the crumbs away from his lips. He’d met a wide arrange of people who hung out on roofs like him, but usually, there was some semblance of etiquette. The way this person had approached him and gotten so close before announcing his presence was just unnerving.

“Who are you?”

The stranger tilted his head to the side; he was half a head taller and probably a couple of years older than Four, with a generous smattering of freckles on his nose and dark, nearly reddish eyes.

“So you’re the little blonde kid who’s been stealing around town?”

Four bristled, he wasn't a kid!

“So what if I am?”

The kid gave him a cocky smile and extended a hand for Four to shake. Four didn’t move and the stranger shrugged before putting his hands in his pockets.

“My name’s Engel, what’s yours?”

Four took a wary step back, suddenly uncomfortably aware that he was at a disadvantage, only a couple inches away from a three-story fall, backed into a corner by Engel.

“Why should I tell you?”

Engel’s smirk widened, the look in his eyes nearly cat-like.

“Because, I’ve got a job offer for you, pretty boy.”

Four barely caught himself before taking another step back, instead tilting his chin upwards stubbornly.

“Don’t call me that!”

“Then tell me what I should call you.”

He bit his lip and his fingers unconsciously crushing the bagel. What was he supposed to answer to that? True, he was no longer Billy, but William felt crushingly unnatural. He looked Engel in the eyes.

“B-Bill. My name’s Bill.”

Engel smiled with an emotion Four couldn’t decipher and again extended his hand for Four to shake, taking a step closer.

“Nice name, kid. Now I’ve heard you’re good at stealing, and I want you to join my team.”

Engel's hand was warm as Four shook it.

Apparently, the group wasn’t actually Engel’s team, he was just a member who, like the others deferred to the eldest guys, a pair of twenty-year-old twins who didn’t bother introducing themselves to Four. He later found out through the grapevine that their names were Zaccai and Arlo, both sported shaved heads and looked bored nearly all the time. They only seemed to come alive during robberies.

Stealing with this team was completely different from the petty stuff Four usually did. The robberies were each carefully planned and they changed cities much more often than Four did, even countries. In his time with the twins, he traveled through most of Europe. The targets were also much bigger, even if the twins took the majority of the money. Four was sure that they could have retired with a mansion whenever they wanted, but they simply enjoyed their line of work too much.

The “team” was more than anything else, a gaggle of young people without any real organization, the members came and went as they pleased. Four never took off on his own but he sometimes accompanied Engel when he needed help with a side job. Sometimes Engel would leave him alone for weeks at a time and Four would wait anxiously, ignoring the rest of the team until he returned. Whenever anyone took too much time to report back, the twins wrote them off as dead and everyone got a free afternoon to wander off for a while.

The first time this happened, Four looked at Engel with wide eyes but the older one just gave him a bitter smile.

“That’s how things go in this line of work, Bill. You better get used to it.”

Engel was also the first one who put a gun in his hand. Four had been sixteen for two weeks and had finally grown a couple of inches taller than Engel. It was a handgun, small but unbelievably heavy in Four’s palm. Of course, he’d seen that most everyone carried at least one gun whenever they stole something but he’d never imagined he’d have to too. Everyone else did parkour but he was the best one, it was his thing and the reason Engel had recruited him, he didn't understand why he needed a gun like the others.

“You’re fast, Bill. But no that fast. You can’t outrun a bullet, the only way to stop it is to kill the other guy first.” A wink. “And I need you to cover my back too. You and me, yeah?”

And so, Billy learned, every day he would stand for hours, shooting targets until his arms were sore and he could barely keep his eyes open. But no matter how much he trained his muscles he never could bring himself to shoot anyone. His self-appointed mentor also taught him to fight, on dusty gymnastics mats the twins kept around in their hideouts. Engel would always win, but Billy was good too, fast and electric, wiggling out of chokeholds like an eel. But he never fought dirty enough for Engel’s taste.

“You’ve gotta go harder, Bill! Those guys out there are not gonna have any compassion when they’re fighting you. They’re gonna go in for the kill and if you don’t do the same, they’re gonna succeed.”

Four was seventeen, lying on those mats, sweat-slick and breathing heavy, when Engel kissed him. It was a hungry kiss, the kind that builds up for years and uncoils like an explosion. The kind of kiss where you feel the raw need in the base of your stomach, where air stops mattering. And you just want. They started… something after that, kissing in empty corridors and jacking each other off in dark alleyways, quieting their moans into each other’s necks. Four would never forget Engel’s face as he came, head thrown back and flushed cheeks, hair wild.

Despite it all, they never actually fell in love, Four didn’t at least. And Engel would still leave for weeks at a time, leaving him alone and burning. They started drinking together, sleeping with girls when the other wasn’t there and partying hard.

Meanwhile, their little skirmishes kept getting riskier, as Zaccai acquired a manic look in his eyes he hadn’t had before and Arlo kept shooting him worried looks when he thought no one was watching.

Suddenly one day, when Four was nearly twenty-one and easily a head taller than Engel, Zaccai announced he had decided he wanted to steal the Moussaief Red Diamond. At that moment, that meant nothing to Four, but he later found out it was the seventh most expensive diamond in the world, owned by a man named Shlomo Moussaief who lived in London. While everyone was extremely excited at the prospect of being set for life, late at night they could hear the twins argue in their room.

“We can’t do this Zaccai! We don’t have the manpower!”

“Don’t you see it?! It’s the ultimate challenge, the ultimate proof of skill!”

“You’re crazy! You’ve gone crazy, and I’m not letting you drag me down with you!”

Arlo stormed out of the abandoned apartments where the team had been squatting, leaving behind a string of worried whispers and bubbling panic. Zaccai smiled at them when he stepped out of the room.

“Don’t worry guys, we can do it without. When we pull this off, I promise you, we’re gonna become legends! We’re gonna be rich!”

Four shot a worried look at Engel, but the latter had a nearly identical look on his face to Zaccai, a demented smile, slashed across his face.

“Hear that, Bill? Rich. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Engel the millionaire.”

And so they prepared like they hadn’t ever before, scanning the building to find entrances and exits, paying for intel about the security personnel.

Finally, the day came when they silently entered the deceptively modest house where Moussaief lived, Zaccai at the helm.

And promptly walked into Hell.

It was obvious from that first moment that they had been given wrong intel or someone had ratted them off because they were immediately shot at. Men started dropping like flies in both sides of the fight, the sound of shooting deafening as Four gripped his gun so hard his knuckles turned white. They ran across hallways, Four’s teammates constantly shooting and dropping to flour, screaming with pain. Only Zaccai’s laughter rose above the rest of the noise.

“The diamond! Just get the diamond!”

There were only five of them when they finally got to the showroom, only to find it completely empty.

Of course.

Moussaief had probably flown out of town if not out of the country as soon as he'd been tipped off that something was brewing. And he's taken his fortune with him.

Zaccai stopped laughing; face blanching for just a moment before it exploded as they shot him in the head. The only lasting guard walked into the room and promptly shot the rest of Four’s teammates. He felt his heart stop as he watched almost in slow motion, the bullet headed for Engel’s chest. In just a couple of seconds he felt it all, nausea and sadness. And blinding anger.

He raised the gun, and shot, aiming directly at the man’s heart.

Bull’s eye.

The man fell to the floor, his last scream getting stuck in his throat.

Four shot again. And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and ag-

“Bill!”

What?

“Bill!”

His hands began shaking, the gun clattering to the floor.

“I’m fine! It was just a graze.”

For a moment he stared uncomprehendingly at Engel’s blood-streaked side.

“You okay, man?”

He looked into Engel’s dark eyes, feeling numb as the older boy cupped his face with both hands.

“It’s okay, Bill. He’s dead. I’m fine.”

Four threw himself at Engel, winding his arms around his neck. He didn’t sob or make a sound, just shook as Engel rocked him from side shushing him softly. When he was slightly calmer, he and Engel took the fire escape to walk onto the roof, stepping over bodies, staining the soles of their shoes with blood.

Over them, the moon was nearly nonexistent, just a thin ribbon of light. Four licked his cracked lips before speaking.

“So, what next?”

Engel clapped him on the shoulder, pressing a hand against his injured side.

“Wanna go to Ukraine?”

4.Will

On the day they arrived in Ukraine, the day was overcast.

It was a few weeks after the failed Moussaief thievery, they had waited for Engel’s side to heal up, but Four was still wary of the new group they were going to meet. Apparently, they were friends of Engel that he sometimes helped for a little extra cash, though working for the twins had been more profitable. It stung, that in all the years of knowing each other, Four had never met them.

Besides, he didn’t want to belong to a team anymore. A team meant dead-weight and room for error, a team meant caring for too many people. Usually, Four thrived in variables. How many variables and different paths did the landscape have to offer? Human variables, though, he wasn’t so keen on.

When he voiced his opinions to Engel, the latter just laughed.

“They’re good guys, Bill. Well, as good as you’re gonna get for a bunch of thieves anyway.”

Kyiv was beautiful with high buildings made of white stone dark, lanky silhouettes of unlit lampposts. But Engel immediately led him to the bad side of town, where the buildings barely stood and the people lived on the streets. The smell of poverty was intense, but Four didn’t mind it, it had become home. The group had been living in an abandoned house, with no glass on the windows and peeling paint. Cigarette butts littered the ground outside.

The group inside was much smaller than Four expected, nothing like the twins’ group. There were only eight or nine people, sitting on metal folding chairs, the floor, and an ugly couch, around a deck of cards and three bottles of vodka. The first one to get up was the only girl, tiny and ballerina-like, with bird-boned wrists and lean strong muscle lining her arms. She raised an eyebrow playfully and fixed with an intense look in her dark, dark eyes. The other’s got up slowly, nothing remarkable about them except for a guy with tattooed lines streaked down his face like tears and the bluest eyes Four had ever seen and a man with a hulking figure that surely couldn’t be very good at parkour, hands the size of bowling balls and a gun hanging from his belt. The only one who carried one. Engel smiled wide.

“Well guys, this is Bill, the guy I’ve been telling you about for years.” A wink. “Bill, meet the crew. The scary fella over there is Axel, our gunman, and heavyweight. A bodyguard if you will.” Mr. Giant nodded slightly, his eyes focused on the street outside. “From left to right there’s Dima, Andrew, Andreas, Symon, Taras, Aleksander and the guy with the bad face tattoos is Mykola.” The latter frowned at Engel but didn’t say anything, before giving Four a shaky smile, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet.

Finally, Engel wound an arm around the girl and pulled her flush against his side.

“And this,” He bit his lip for a second. “Is the wonderful Oksana.”

She looked at Four with a smirk and he felt his knees go slightly weak.

“So this is the famous Bill.” She scrunched her nose. “Not a fan of the name, though. I think I’m gonna call you Will.” Engel frowned.

“Oh my g-d, Oksana you can’t just-”

“It’s fine!” Four cleared his throat, embarrassed. “I’m fine with Will.” Engel leveled an unimpressed stare at him.

“Fine, but you’ll be Bill to me. Now come on, I’ll show you the rest of the house.”

And so it was. The rest of the team stuck to calling him Bill, but that night when Oksana led him to her room instead of one of the communal rooms for the guys, she moaned the name Will.

Will. Will. Will.

Like a chant, soft and hoarse in his ear as her short, sharp nails drew blood from his back.

Will!

As she came, lovelier than anything else he had ever seen, her tan skin flushed all over.

It became a regular occurrence, more often than not he slept in her room and he stuck close to her wherever they went. At parties, he liked to have her closed, fingers grazing her elbow or her hip. When they stole something he usually kept her in his line of sight, more on edge than he had ever seen during a mission.

Of course, he still hung out with Engel. He was his best friend after all, but when the latter tried to go in for a kiss when they were sparring Four stopped him.

“It’s just, ya know, my thing with Oksana. You get it right?”

Engel stared at him and for the first time in a very long while, Four couldn’t decipher his expression.

“Yeah. I see how it is.”

The sparring ended quickly and awkwardly. Usually, Engel and Four fought as cleanly as they could, but at that moment, as Engel twisted his arm behind his back, straddling his hips, he was genuinely afraid he would break it.

“I win. See you later Bill.”

Four stared at his friend’s retreating back, genuinely wondering where he went wrong.

But it was okay. That night, Oksana took him to one of her favorite nightclubs and kissed his worries away. He felt like an idiot next to her, slow and lumbering, when she moved through crowds of people like a fish through water. Everywhere she went, she seemed to belong in a way he had never been able to. but she seemed to want him around and that helped.

And at some point, they started to spend nights upon nights just talking, about everything. Themselves, their childhoods, their wretched, awful childhoods. It was hard not to want when he was next to her. Not only want her but want to change to world for her, fix the injustices, the systems that had failed her, the streets that had sheltered her. Make her proud of him, like he had only ever wanted to make his mom proud.

Being with Oksana made him want everything.

Sometimes, he would whisper these dreams to her, like secrets, face pressed against the warmth of her sweat-slicked skin. She would laugh, quietly.

“You’re a dreamer, Will. I’m fine sticking to the earth while you search for the stars.”

She had always been much more realistic than him. She knew, that those dreams were nothing but fairytales. People like them didn’t accomplish miracles or even good things. He should have listened to her, maybe then the fall from the stars to the ground wouldn’t have hurt so much.

It was Oksana who took him to get his first and only tattoo, four big letters stretched across the knuckles of his right hand.

“What do they mean?”

“A letter for each of the people I have loved the most.”

M, for mum.

E, for Engel.

O, for Oksana.

And B, for the little boy he had once been, for the future his mother had seen in his eyes.

When Engel had seen the tattoo, he’d laughed himself to tears.

“Never get someone’s name or initials tattooed, Bill. It’s bad luck.”

And Engel was always right, wasn’t he?

A month later, they sat together, drinking. Oksana, was asleep, claiming cramps and a couple of the boys had gone out to a nightclub. It was just Andrew, Dima, Engel, and Four, drinking, a cigarette in each of their mouths. Usually, Engel was the best of them at drinking, but tonight he had been drinking much more than usual, taking generous swigs of two different bottles.

He kept asking Four about his relationship with Oksana, getting more and more aggressive with each drink he took. Finally, at four in the morning, he asked a question he’d been itching to ask, the words nearly flying out of his mouth without his permission.

“Aren’t you afraid of her?”

Four laughed, him? Scared of a small, cute girl like her?

But that wasn’t really what Engel was asking, was it? No, it went more along the line of, aren’t you afraid that you’ll fall in love? That you’ll give too much and she’ll take it without mercy? Aren’t you afraid that it’ll be too much, too fast, that you’ll be washed over by her tides?

Because girls like her, are the kind of girls who rip you open to feast on your heart and suck up your soul.

Because she had the power to ruin him.

This squirrely little girl, who looked like a gun made woman. His Oksana (except not his, never his), all muscles from climbing and starving, like him, all of them, street urchins forever and ever like his own group of lost boys.

“How could I be scared of her, I’m twice her size!” Andrew and Dima snickered, but Engel stayed silent, the flickering fire reflected in his eyes, casting strange shadows on his face.

“Whatever, Will” And he said the name like an insult, like a thrown stone. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you about her.”

“What’s his problem?” Asked Andrew and as Dima shrugged, Four took a gulp from the bottle of Rum at his feet and tried not to wonder how many times Oksana and Engel had slept together before he came to Ukraine.

From that moment on, he’d been expecting it, Oksana’s betrayal. Waiting for the fatal words to cross her lips: “I cheated on you” or even worse “I don’t love you anymore, I never did.”, asking himself if he would forgive her, shying away from the meaningful stares Engel shot at him and he dared not decipher.

And yet he was in love with her.

He could almost physically feel it, in the way he just seemed to breathe easier with her around him. In the way kissing her felt better than anything else in the world, that her presence brightened up a room. In the way he ached for her when she wasn’t with him.

He had killed for Engel, but he knew he would die for Oksana.

And they did stakeouts and ran to keep fit and listened to rumors. They kept stealing, here and there, but every single one of them was here for the big one. The necklace. Worth fifty million fucking dollars, the so-called “Garden of Kalahari” was even bigger than the Moussaief diamond. No matter how many participated in that robbery, they’d be set for life, and in this mission, the team was small. None of them could truly comprehend the amount of money the Kalahari was worth.

And it was going to be theirs.

There was a tension in the air, an itching in their veins, and at moments Four almost thought he could comprehend what had driven Zaccai to near-insanity. The feeling of adrenaline and expectation was nearly intoxicating. But still terrifying. The day almost snuck-up on them, there without warning. They had planned and re-planned a thousand times and yet, the Moussaief incident kept repeating itself in Four’s head. What if’s plagued him.

That morning, Oksana soothed him with a slow kiss.

“Welcome to the rest of our lives, Will.”

And so they went, the building was much older and unassuming than Moussaief’s home had been. But it made sense, the Kalahari belonged to an old rich woman, who hoarded her jewelry like a dragoness and who, after losing her businesses to younger more innovative competition, had let herself fall into poverty rather than sell her jewels.

Every morning she left the building unattended to go walk a decrepit old dog, both of them took nearly an hour for a short walk. More than enough time.

This group was much more acrobatic and parkour centered than the old one, so only the big guy, Axel, and Engel carried guns, the added weight wasn’t ideal for this kind of job. As soon as they walked into the building, Axel and Engel posted themselves at the door, guns drawn.

They had planned and re-planned a thousand times.

It wasn’t enough.

The first clue was the gunshots, the next one was the two heavy thuds by the door, Engel and Axel’s corpses falling to the floor. The final clue was Mykola shouting. Desperate, as if he wanted to tear his vocal cords out.

“Politsiya! Politsiya!”

Four never learned Ukrainian. He had meant to, he’d wanted to impress Oksana, but even he knew what the words meant.

When he found the Kalahari, it was almost like salvation. Maybe. Maybe, the mission hadn’t been for nothing.

More shots then, closer now, Four wasn’t keeping a head-count anymore. Just running, as fast as he could, until the oxygen burnt.

They were supposed to cross through the sign and he could barely comprehend when instead of doing that he was falling. Airborne. The only thing keeping him from certain death, from splattering like paint on the floor, was the too-thin cable in his hands. For the first time in a long, long time he was scared of falling.

And then she was there, Oksana. She grabbed the necklace and he knew that he was saved.

Except.

“Grab my hand! Grab my hand!”

His jaw hurt like nothing had hurt before, the jewels between his teeth felt like iron, like they would grind his molars to dust.

Oksana didn’t grab his hand. The look in her eyes was cold, empty, and Four felt himself go numb.

And then he was falling.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

[evilisk-played]

DQH2 Speedrun Commentary Part 02: Dunisia Part 1

(Covered in this part: completing the first trip to Accordia, upgrading Desdemona and Torneko, the Grand Dunes, the Oasis fight, upgrading Lazarel, Maribel and Ruff recruitment, Dunisia Skirmish 1)

Accordia:

Twin Swords Teresa? (00:10)

In my later runs, I started to switch Teresa over to the Twin Swords. But honestly? I'm not sure it's necessary at all. The whole "extra DPS" advantage is lost on your party members being dumb.

= = =

Torneko and Desdemona In A Speedrun?

I'll say it now, Torneko and Desdemona aren't getting much use in this speedrun.

Torneko gets a bit of use as he’s technically your first healer (just make sure you unlock his healing ability, since it’s not one of his defaults). In regular play he’s... okay. He’s not my favorite honestly. 

Desdemona is a perfectly fine character in regular play, but in a speedrun? She's not so good. Without a full unlocked arsenal, she's just not that powerful, and she has the "early joiner" disadvantage.

The early joiner disadvantage is that the earlier a character is unlocked, the less potent they are for speedrunning. There are number of reasons why earlier characters aren’t so good: characters that join later often join with a higher starting level, and for speedrunning (where you don’t get to grind at all) this is a significant advantage over the other characters. Late joiners also get up to date weapon when they appear (while you need to purchase equipment for early joiners, and this can be quite annoying).

The most important difference is related to the “proficiency” system in this game. Proficiency is basically a second skill tree that is only unlocked by: actively using a character; and talking to the Martial Artist in town. Contrary to what the game says, proficiency is not acquired purely through damage; it’s acquired through killing enemies, and enemies give a set amount of it (anyone whose played DQH2′ lousy postgame knows you hunt Roseguardins for fast proficiency).

It’s a really stupid system in regular play and in a speedrun it’s even worse, as a bunch of characters have key abilities walled behind proficiency like Terry. Desdemona has it really bad off in speedruns, which is a shame as she’s a beast with a fully unlocked moveset. (Maybe one day I’ll try a New Game+ speedrun...)

= = =

Upgrades:

Desdemona only gets used in two battles, and she doesn't get even close to using High Tension in either one, so I recommend upping her damage (so she does more damage, doi) and upping her MP (so she can whip out more Scrap Mettles)

Torneko actually sees a few more battles before being benched. Here I unlock Sage's Stone and up his MP. It should be obvious what this means tbh.

= = =

Getting Zap So here's something that didn't happen in the video but is something I totally missed; if you talk to the Martial Artist at this point, you can totally unlock Zap now. Zap is a very, very important skill to have. While you don't necessarily need it *now*, it's very, very important to pick up as soon as you've unlocked Maribel and Ruff. 

= = =

The Grand Dunes

Optional Golem Fight (01:52)

At this point, you can totally skip the Golem with the Twin Swords' C1 Dodge Loop. It's worth noting that this Golem encounter always appears here the first time (and it never appears when you return here).

= = =

Out In The Wild (02:19) Okay, so this bit is about a potential random event that occurs in the open world. I walk past it in the video, but these events involve random NPC's needing rescuing from mobs. Completing these gives a lot of EXP, though I have personally never done any of these events, because I like consistency and outisde of this section of the game (this event will always spawn either before or after the Golem), these things are 100% random.

= = =

Oasis Chest (03:40)

You can get a Mini Medal in that chest either before or after the fight with the Knight Errant. I actually use a few Mini Medals in my runs, but I'm not so sure I'd call this one a necessary one by any means.

= = = 

Oasis Fight (03:50) So this is basically a tutorial with the Monster Medal Mechanic. In this encounter, you fight against 2 Mummies, 2 Rocks, 2 Golems and a Knight Errant. The pairs of enemies will all drop a Monster Medal and you'll at least need the Rocks and Golems' Monster Medals to run through this section quickly.

The overall strategy is to kill the small fry and then focus on the bigger enemies. The Mummies will distract the bigger enemies when summoned, the Rocks will unleash a powerful attack and the Golem Medals will let you transform into one for a short amount of time.

To get the most out of this section, make sure that you have Desdemona use Scrap Mettle on the bigger enemies. Then switch to Lazarel and make sure he activates the Rock and Golem medals (remember: to get proficiency, you need to be using the character you want). Make sure to reapply Scrap Mettle in between uses, and also to go Sucker Punch > Cratermaker > Sucker Punch with the Golem to get a high DPS.

This section can be quite random, mostly because you're fighting three big bodies at once and since you're still technically level 2, it's pretty easy to accidentally die. While it doesn't matter if the other members die, you'll want Lazarel alive by the end so he can at least get some proficiency and EXP.

= = =

What Do These Idiots Want With Us?! (07:22)

Okay so I'm gonna say it now: this run of this section was *awful*. The battle goes: starting wave in the middle, then single Golem, then wave with Fires, then the Final Wave with the 2 Golems and the one Hunter Mech.

Typically, what you want to do is, aside from clearing the Waves, you'll also want to pick up a Golem Medal, a Rock medal and a Fire medal. In this run, I almost forgot about the third one, because I got extremely distracted by a Cloud at 08:11

The ideal way this goes is: final wave appears, Desdemona uses Scrap Mettle on all three, switch to Lazarel, use Fire medal, use Rock medal, then use Golem Medal. Doing this properly kills the boss really damn quickly. Here, I start it at 09:15 and I kill it in fifteen seconds which is fast for regular play, but is slow for a speedrun (I can usually cut off an extra five seconds).

The ending of the fight is also really bad. What's supposed to happen in regular play is that as the Final Wave occurs, you're supposed to be next to Maribel and Ruff and a dialogue is supposed to activate with them. I usually don't do this (so that I can clear the Mech and Goelms really fast), but what I forgot at the time was that after killing the Golem, you still need to talk to those two.

I forgot about that, and ended up wasting a bunch of time killing all the enemies (doing this forced the next scripted section, where the Dunisian sounds the retreat). You can see this stretch from about 09:34 to 10:17. While I haven't timed Maribel's dialogue, I'm pretty sure that a 53 second gap between finishing off the final wave, and actually ending the mission is probably what's not supposed to happen.

= = = 

Detour to Accordia With that mission done, you finally unlock Maribel and Ruff, who you both want to switch out Desdemona and Teresa for. You also want to upgrade Maribel, Ruff and Torneko, and also buy Lazarel a stronger set of Twin Swords.

Ruff's Upgrades (11:06) Yes, you do want Call of the Wild AND Flame Breath. Flame Breath is basically CotW, but weaker, but also with an element (Fire) and a cheaper MP cost. You'll actually be using it to build up Tension crazy good. Call of the Wild is so that when you get into High Tension, you have a better damaging option.

The only thing worth mentioning is that I'm really not sure about my decision to increase his Critical Rate over simply upping his MP and Strength stats. I think it's way too early-game for his critical stat to be useful.

Maribel's Upgrades (11:17) Make sure you pick up that Kasap skill. Oh, and I guess I'll mention the strangeness of the Wisdom stat. From what I can tell, Wisdom affects two types of attacks: "magical attacks" for magical weapons, and spells (like Zap, Woosh, Frizz etc. though not Whack. Whack doesn't count as a spell. Trust me, I've tested out Ring of Ruin with Whack; it doesn't get buffed)

In Maribel's case, the Wisdom stat only affects her Frizz spell, though some weapons and movesets (like any of the Heroes with the Wands, or Cesar) seem to get boosted by increasing Wisdom. I think. Maybe. It's been a hot while since I looked into the stat.

= = =

Maribel and Ruff In A Speedrun? Both characters are also cursed with the early joiners disadvantage, though Ruff has marginally more use compared to the other characters (and both characters are still incredibly helpful for the upcoming sections).

Maribel is one of those characters that really suffers from proficiency having her best abilities. In this run, she's effectively like having Desdemona "but with a far ranged defence drain skill"

Ruff is luckier, as his two best skills (Flame Breath, Call of the Wild) are easily accessible as soon as he's unlocked. Ruff's specialty is that he's probably the most mobile fighter in the game. I actually reuse him a few times later in the game, specifically because his combat-mobility is better than even Lazarel's C1 Dodge Loop, and it gets him through some of the more annoying open world segments (like the Frozen Foothills)

= = =

March of the Harbans (12:53) This fight is one of those battles with loose scripting that leads to a lot of inconsistent runs of this stage and it honestly sucks. It seems like eradicating all Mawkeepers, then all boss type enemies like the Golem, Clouds, Hunter Mechs, and then killing a certain amount of goons, will lead to Donk spawning at *some point*. 

It's worth mentioning that the Clouds (that spawn from the left) are very fast and annoying for the purposes of the getting the stage's scripting to work (you can sometimes have a Cloud reach the King of Harba without you noticing).

So there are these tar pits at 13:16. While I haven't fully tested it, I am like 90% sure that if you kill enemies on those parts of special terrain, enemies will not spawn Monster Medals. Like I'm pretty sure that's what's happening here because the Monster Medal rate of dropping in that area of the level is so consistently bad.

This stage continues straight into the next video.

[tumblunni]

MORE PERSONASONA THOUGHTS

Actually maybe it could be cool to imagine a design for a phantom thief whose mask is like a full face-covering thing? Like a faceless mask. or a mask with a buncha eye symbols on it. OR maybe the persona has that aesthetic, I dunno??? One of the beta protag designs in the artbook has a mask like that, but with a smiley face covering it. That + an all-concealing cloak = a pretty damn cool aesthetic! Even if it didnt fit the protagonist its a shame that they didnt give it to another character, so I might try and make something with a similar appeal.

MORE POTENTIAL THINGS THAT SHOULD BE PERSONAS

Bunnies of myth! There’s the Jackalope (a bunny with horns), the Wolpertinger (a bunny with horns AND wings) and Al-mi’raq (a bunny with only one horn, also said to be one of a kind and incredibly powerful despite being regular bunny sized) And there’s apparantly quite a few other tales of powerful horned rabbits from all different countries and time periods! O_O I was totally under the impression that the Jackalope was just made up in semi-modern cryptid legends, and didnt really count as a proper mythological creature. Rasselbock is the german name, and that sounds really awesome! Also there’s apparantly a hella mysterious recurring symbol of three hares attatched at the ears in an eternal circle, which has appeared in multiple cultures across the world and nobody knows its meaning.

Okay I LEGITIMATELY DID NOT KNOW that Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream is given neutral pronouns in the original form of the play! O_O I mean, the pop culture version is always male, and in school when we read it the character was taught to us as male! I feel totally destroyed that I missed a chance to learn about LGBT characters in history during my school years... Holy shit I REALLY wanna pick Puck now! I always love trickster figures!!

okay i really do not know much at all about folk heroes/classical literature heroes but I do know one from my country at least! Taliesin (tally-essin) was a kind of robin hood esque figure who gets all the same ‘did he actually exist? is he a myth? did a real man exist but was exaggerated in myth?’ stuff. He was a super magical poet bard dude who was magically blessed with the most witty tongue in all of existance because he stole a potion of super knowledge from a witch as a child. It also made him super beautiful cos the witch’s son was super ugly, I always felt REALLy sorry for the poor witch’s son cos seriously she made this potion for him and some random kid stole it and then he’s never mentioned again except to say that ‘he was so ugly that everyone who saw him died, so he made a career as a warrior’. Poor guy. Man, I actually like Morfran a lot better, can I make him a persona? He’s not really a hero or anything, he only gets like two sentences in someone else’s story but I just wanna give him a hug. It also always bugged me that the description of his ‘ugliness’ mentioned how his skin was ‘so black he was like a human crow’ like seriously screw u ancient mythological racisms... ANYWAY thats the only celtic mythology character that’s interesting that hasnt already appeared as a persona, lol. Tho since most of the personas that’ve appeared have been the scottish and irish versions, Finn MacCool was the equivelant to Taliesin. (Same origin story and everything!) The disadvantage is that his name sounds like a shitpost. Also incidentally its really fuckin sad that the only canonical depictions of LGBT characters in welsh myth are all like.. Problematic As Fuck Negative Depictions. I used to like the character Math Ap Mathonwy but then I read the story where he punishes the villains by turning them into a pig and a sow and making them rape each other and get pregnant... as punishment... its so fucked up.. And they’re like the only gay characters ever, and they’re also incestuous brothers, and just... so fucked up... The bad side of getting a mythology Special Interest as a kid: pretty much every mythology has at least one horrible sex story in it!

I’m really interested in learning more about Tu’er Shen! He’s apparantly a chinese deity of gay blessings, the spirit of a mortal man who was executed for loving other men and reincarnated as the form of a magical rabbit spirit. I hope he ended up finding true love in the spirit world... :( Seriously, even friggin mythological figures are dying from hate crimes. I don’t think people were very optimistic when they created this story, its horrible to know that society still hasnt progressed far enough that this bullshit has stopped happening! Cmon, seriously!! Please say the future is gonna be safe, someday! I can just imagine Tu’er Shen looking down on us and still crying.

Huh! Persona 5′s homophobia also manifesting in a weird unintentional way! They mention how one of the ways everyone attempted to get the sun god Ameratsu to open up her door was ‘someone doing a lewd dance’, and there’s a joke about Ryuji being that person. But I had NO IDEA that originally the person who did that was Ame No Uzume, another female deity! And it seems pretty damn ‘LGBT themes in mythology’, i mean the dialogue is Ame No Uzume saying ‘come and admire how perfect I am’ *points at crotch* I mean they probably couldnt mention all the explicit details in this random cameo mention in a persona game, but seriously would it have been so hard to just say it was ameratsu and ame no uzume? I suppose maybe since its a japanese game there was the assumption everyone would know the myth tho, so its more of a failure of the dubbing.

And then there’s a lot of themes of androgeny and gender-changing in Hindu and various african mythologies, but I feel like I’d have to do a lot more research into those cultures to depict them accurately. Its a damn shame that barely any european cultures had that level of respect for LGBT people so long ago, yet we like to act like we’re the height of progress and assume every other culture followed along the same historical template as us... I’m really interested in learning more about Dahomey mythology, wikipedia says that they have a genderless creator deity who split into two male and female twins, which then combined again into a different bigender deity. (Nana Buluku, Mawu, Lisa and Mawu-Lisa) And apparantly in zimbabwe there’s a shona deity called Mwari who is also genderless. I really don’t know anything about these cultures though, and there’s no way I’m gonna be drawing dumb anime versions of people’s important mythological figures based on just a wikipedia crawl! But at least this has inspired me to wanna go learn more. Also it just makes me feel a lot happier about myself to know that its not like there’s zero genderless people in all of mythology, just because my country has always been hella bigoted ^_^ But man, wikipedia’s list of LGBT figures in mythology is really REALLY focused on only depictions of sex, and it counts all the super negative stereotypes and shit of villainous rapist gay folks and people being ‘punished’ by being turned into another gender. And then any sort of positive interpretation is all THIS IS TOTALLY JUST AN INTERPRETATION HERE IS ALL THE EVIDENCE FOR IT BEING WRONG, YOU CANT IMPOSE MODERN IDEALS ON MYTHOLOGY NOBODY WAS EVER GAY BEFORE THE WORD EXISTED IN ENGLISH SO yeah its really demotivating to me to continue reading this and just Yikes with a capital Yikes. I’m gonna try and find if there’s more sources online about LGBT mythology education written by actual LGBT scholars...

[awaygamespodcast]

2018 Season Predictions

By podcast co-host, Kevin McCaffrey

This’ll be a long one, so BUCKLE IN!

NL EAST Washington Nationals NY Mets Philadelphia Phillies Atlanta Braves Florida Marlins

The only “interesting” thing here is that I could see 2-4 in any order. I think the Phillies are almost overhyped as a possible breakout team, but they have a weak division to beat up on...just like everyone else. I think the Mets land a couple of games above .500 and are in the wild card mix late.

NL CENTRAL Chicago Cubs St. Louis Cardinals* Milwaukee Brewers Pittsburgh Pirates Cincinnati Reds

I think the Cubs are, uh, the best team in the NL on paper? And with extreme bias, I probably put them #2 behind the Astros overall, right in the mix with Nats/Yankees/Indians. The tough part is that I do believe the Cardinals are going to Cardinals it up this season and be 5 wins better than they have any reason to be (Jose Martinez, with good playing time, I really believe in as a kind of Bautista-lite late-ish career breakout). The Brewers I think *should* be a touch better than the Cardinals, but I don’t think they *will* be. They really needed one more starter this offseason, and I’m not sure they have the farm system to deal for one mid-season stud...though their GM David Stearns I think is really good, and as a Cubs fan, bothers me.

NL WEST LA Dodgers Arizona Diamondbacks* Colorado Rockies SF Giants SD Padres

(Dumb guy voice that is identical to my actual voice) “The Dodgers don’t scare me!” Except, they kind of don’t. With Turner hurt, that lineup gets un-scary very quickly. He’ll be back, sure, but hand and wrist injuries can be long lingering poison to hitters (as I get deeply sad, thinking about Derrek Lee post-’05). The Diamondbacks are my reluctant pick for the 2nd wild card, as I feel like I could flip a coin between them and the Brewers. The Rockies I believe so little in, with a weak lineup and decent young, but hard-to-count-on pitching, that I had them 4th behind the Giants before everyone on that team died.

AL East NY Yankees Boston Red Sox* Toronto Blue Jays Baltimore Orioles Tampa Bay Rays

I’ve heard a lot of analysts say the Rays still shouldn’t be that bad, and that they aren’t “tanking” (Olney & ESPN types, mainly), and I know there are projections that always love the Rays no matter what. But they have a 4-man pitching staff, and they have 3 pitchers. So, last. The Orioles are weird but always better than they should be, I think the Blue Jays have a pretty solid year in what could be the end of the Donaldson era. Of the teams everyone thinks are playoff locks (Nats/Cubs/Dodgers/Yanks/Red Sox/Indians/Astros), I think the Red Sox are the most likely to just whiff it. It feels like they’re one key injury away from being kind of middling. Take out any one of Betts, Martinez, Sale, even Bogaerts, and they look good, but, eh. The Yankees are, annoyingly, going to be awesome for at least 8 years now.

AL CENTRAL Cleveland Indians Minnesota Twins Chicago White Sox Kansas City Royals Detroit Tigers

Woof, the bottom of this division. The Indians thank you for your fast-pass to the offseason. Because of that weak-ass schedule, my head tells me the Twins are the other wild card, but my heart tells me it’s a team from the city that invented the “fast pass” for their theme park. I love the Twins bargain shopping, going against the grain in an offseason when that meant just paying a little bit good players (Morrison, Lynn). If Cleveland can keep their pitchers healthy at the end of the year -- and the weak schedule could let them pull a 2017 Dodgers and fake DL guys mid-season for rest -- they could really go on a run...kind of like they did during the regular season, last year.

AL WEST Houston Astros Anaheim Angels* Texas Rangers Oakland A’s Seattle Mariners

Well, the Astros are the best, and they got better. I made money betting on them at the beginning of the playoffs last year, when it seemed everyone was on the Dodgers or the Indians, but I literally put my money on a historically good offense. I like those. They made a great trade that I wish the Cubs made for Verlander, added Cole, and all I can say is thank God they had moments of pure idiocy a few years ago when they waived pre-breakout JD Martinez and passed on Kris Bryant, because if they didn’t do those things, we’d just have to hit fast-forward until they stopped winning titles, and I’m not ready for 2022 yet. The Angels, man, c’mon. They’re maybe my #1 team to tune into when the Cubs aren’t on via MLB.TV (which somehow gets worse every year, from a technical standpoint -- my next story: “The At Bat App Is Tanking”), and thank God they finally went all-in to get decent older dudes to surround Trout with in Cozart and Kinsler, and re-signing Upton. Billy Eppler is really smart, and good, and even though getting Shohei Ohtani is largely through luck of location and the inequality of rules between the two leagues, they still got him, and that’s fun. So, what the hell, Angels for the 2nd wild card because them in the playoffs would be friggin’ cool. And the Mariners rebuild, once they start it, should have them really good by about 2025, when Felix is throwing one of his last opening day starts.

PLAYOFFS

Wild Card Cardinals over Diamondbacks Angels over Red Sox

Division Series Nationals over Dodgers Cubs over Cardinals Astros over Angels Indians over Yankees

League Championship Series Cubs over Nationals Indians over Astros

World Series Cubs over Indians in 7

Jeez, there are a lot of teams tanking, but this October is going to be a gauntlet of incredible teams. Every year is a year when “any team could win” in the playoffs, because that’s how the future works, but this year is one where it’s possible that almost any team *should* win.

I think the Cubs and Nationals will battle it out for a very important #1 spot in the NL, which could be rough for the Cubs looking at the Nationals division. Loser plays a rough series against the Dodgers, and goes into the next series with a disadvantage, as the Cubs did last year, heading to LA completely depleted. Fingers crossed the Cubs dispatch with the Cardinals in a very stressful NLDS, and the Cubs once again knock out the Nats, with a great 4-man rotation and Chatwood turning into a high-leverage bullpen weapon, plus whatever reliever Theo gets at the deadline (my prediction is Zach Britton).

In the AL, there’s part of me that just wants to say Mike Trout wins all the games by himself. But if that doesn’t happen, the Astros are the best team, the Yankees could score 8-10 runs just about every game...and yet, I’m saying this sneaky, historically good rotation in Cleveland puts a run together, choking the life out of every offense on their way to the World Series.

In storytelling, you’d have Cleveland take down the Cubs in a 2016 rematch, now with their rotation more than just Kluber and spare parts. But I think the Cubs rotation is just about the only one with the depth to matchup with Cleveland, and the Cubs might have more of an AL offense than the Indians. The pitching plays to about a draw, and the Cubs bats give them the title in 7...at Wrigley. Cleveland gets the consolation prize of getting to continue the claim of being the longest suffering franchise, which they’ve held for a full two years now.

The Cubs find themselves one title short of being able to claim a semi-official “dynasty,” with three more seasons left in the current window.

Or at least, that’s what I think will happen.

AWARDS

MVP

NL: 1. Bryce Harper 2. Kris Bryant 3. Anthony Rizzo

I honestly think this could/should be Bryant, and my heart wants Rizzo to get one of these for his future HOF case, but Harper in a walk year, but more importantly in a year he knows might be his last with a great Nats core, has him go on a high-profile tear.

AL: 1. Carlos Correa 2. Mike Trout 3. Giancarlo Stanton

It’s probably Trout, but let’s get slightly weird. Correa finished in the top 10 in MVP voting last year in less than 110 games, he’s on the best team, and the team played waaaaay better with him active last year. He’ll still likely be the 2nd best player on his team but voters won’t go Altuve again. Stanton hits bombs, you probably heard.

CY YOUNG

NL: 1. Stephen Strasbourg 2. Kyle Hendricks 3. Max Scherzer

Stras’s performance in game 4 of the NLDS was a real turning point in an already great career. With all the weirdness leading up to his maybe not pitching, if he bombed, that narrative would have stuck forever (like Kershaw/playoffs, as stupid as it is). But he dominated a great Cubs lineup, he has three plus-plus-plus pitches, his changeup is actual wizardry that should be outlawed, and he and Bryce go nuts in this last year of the Washington window. Hendricks rules, and people will never realize how much until maybe his 200th win. Scherzer’s maybe my favorite non-Cubs pitcher, and I’ve got him in the top 3 over Kershaw just because of Clayton’s back.

AL: 1. Carlos Carrasco 2. Corey Kluber 3. Chris Sale

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

NL: 1. Scott Kingery 2. Ronald Acuna 3. Nick Senzel

Acuna seems like he’s gonna be a star of stars, but this could be a year where Kingery simply gets more counting stats, as he’s not having his service time manipulated (well, with the contract he signed, you could argue he still *is* being manipulated, but whatever). Acuna might be the best rookie since Bryant. Senzel’s a reach, just anticipating an injury and him coming up, playing out of position at SS, and hitting a bunch of homers in that mini-park.

AL: 1. Shohei Ohtani 2. Michael Kopech 3. Willie Calhoun

I believe in Ohtani! I think he’ll hit 12-15 homers, and be a solid #3 starter this year. Kopech could be Verlander. Calhoun is a position-less fire hydrant who might hit 25 homers in part of a year.